Young, Foolish, Happy
by Miss.Pixie.M
Summary: Sequel to "1 Day, I Swear We Are Going To Get Ourselves Killed!" Making your way through to adulthood would never be easy without a few hiccups along the way. Getting the boy was easy, keeping him is another matter.
1. Chapter 1: Red and Gold

**Young, Foolish, Happy.**

_So here is the first new chapter ! It's not that different at all ! Just time changes :) _

Chapter 1:

I was sitting by the lake watching first years trying to get at a look at the Giant Squid. It was something that would always fascinate first years, I mean come on it's not every day you see a Giant Squid! I was reading over my transfiguration notes as we had an essay to do for next week. It wasn't like me to start homework this early; I was more of a "let's do it two days before" kind of girl. I guess I really wanted to do well in my N.E.W.T.S, everyone wondered why though; I had got Outstanding in most of my O.W.L.S apart from History of Magic and Divination without a considerable amount of revision. Divination had been my worst, I'd got Acceptable but that was actually quite a shock. James and I had spent our entire fifth year making up these predictions that forecast Trelawney's death or we would pull pranks and ask her if she saw them coming; just typical for James and I really. For those of you who don't know James Sirius Potter and me, Casey Abigail Finnigan, have been dating for just over a year. Funny story actually, we had managed to blow ourselves back to our parents past a year ago in January and that's when we finally got round to admitting we liked each other. It's weird that when you find yourself in life or death situations people start to admit things. I smiled remembering this.

I knew I had been here for a while but I wasn't sure how long until I saw Louis rushing towards me fully kitted for Quidditch.

"Casey, if you don't get a move on, James is going to kill you!" He yelled "Not to mention the rest of the Gryffindor population!"

"Damn it!" I swore.

I grabbed my bag and my broom that was lying next to me and started running towards him. I was only supposed to be here for an hour it seemed I had been here a lot longer. It was our first Quidditch match of the season and my very last firs match at Hogwarts. I was co-captain since the beginning of my seventh year and James had been made captain.

"The game starts in 10 minutes!" Louis said as I reached him.

"I didn't realise what time it was!" I admitted.

"You're cutting it a bit short, so hurry up!" He snapped.

We started running as fast as we could towards the Quidditch pitch, pushing other students out of our way so we could get through the sea of people. I would have gladly gotten on my broom and flown there but last time McGonagall told me off with a 50 point deduction on our house tally. When we reached the changing rooms, the whole team was in the boys' one and had already changed. James was pacing nervously.

"I found her!" Louis announced as we got in.

"Nice of you to join us!" Jackie, a fifth year girl who had taken up the keeper position this year, said sarcastically.

"Sorry, I didn't realise how late it was!" I apologised.

"Can you just get changed?" James pressed. "We don't have time for arguments!" His tone was bitter, he might not want to show it but he was fighting back the argument.

I quickly pulled my Quidditch robes out my bag and headed for the girls changing room. I pulled my school robes off and rushed putting my Quidditch ones on. I had finished just as I heard Emily's voice start to announce the arrival of the Ravenclaw team on the pitch. I turned and headed back to the rest of the team.

"Ready?" James asked. I nodded. "Let's go!"

We headed out on to the pitch with a massive applause coming from the Gryffindor stands.

"Nervous much?" I asked James.

"When am I ever?" He joked lightly.

"_And the Gryffindor team have arrived on the pitch!" _Emily's voice boomed across the field. _"Captained by James Potter, the team's seeker. He has made some good tactical decisions this season along with his co-captain and chaser Casey Finnigan. Brilliant chaser she is, lots of tricks up her sleeve that one! Fred and Roxanne Weasley next, twin beaters. Jackie Keane follows; she's a new face for Gryffindor's Quidditch line-up as she replaces last year's keeper. And last but not least, Louis Weasley and David Falconer the two other chasers. First appearance for Falconer as well replacing Aidan Finnigan, last year's captain. The captains are now shaking hands. I don't think it's sincere though seeing as Davies, captain and beater, was the one that knocked Casey off her broom last year. I personally think he should not have been let near a bat again after that disgusting …"_

"_Jordan!" _ McGonagall warned.

"_Em … I'm sorry professor."_ Emily said.

There was nothing sincere there either. Emily was just like her dad was she could get a bit too carried away.

"_Anyway, the snitch and the bludgers have been released and the quaffle is being thrown into the air. Let the game begin! Finnigan goes straight for the quaffle. McKinnon, Ravenclaw's best chaser, tries to intercept Finnigan's pass to Louis Weasley, without success. Weasley know racing to the goal posts. Davies hits a bludger in Weasley's direction but he saw it coming and avoided it easily. Roxanne Weasley hits the bludger back to the Ravenclaw seeker, Jones, who narrowly avoids it. Weasley takes a shot at goal and SCORES! 10-0 to Gryffindor!"_

So far so good, the game went on for a good twenty minutes before anything interesting happened. The score was 150 to 60 to us with me scoring nine of our fifteen goals.

"_Finnigan in possession, McKinnon and Richards closing in, Finnigan picks up speed but the Ravenclaw chasers are too close for comfort. Surely, they will regain the quaffle?"_

They were definitely too close but we were also going too fast for them to react quick enough, so in a spilt second decision I braked. I nearly fell over my broom but I managed to regain control of it just as the chasers were turning looking absolutely shocked.

"_After everything we have seen out of this girl from roll overs to jumps, I never thought I would see that! That was bloody amazing! Finnigan racing to the goal post side flies the keeper and scores! Another 10 points to Gryffindor that brings the score to 160 to 60! And another goal for Casey Finnigan!"_

I looked above me to find James. I saw him circling above me. I flew towards him.

"Nice playing!" He remarked and I blushed.

"We're on 160 points! Find the snitch!" I advised.

"I'm on it!" He answered and flew off.

I skimmed the field and saw Ravenclaw had the quaffle, Richards was passing it to Lopez but David had intercepted the pass. I flew over to David who passed the quaffle to me; I turned and was nearly hit by a bludger.

"_That was a close call there!"_ Emily said. _"Finnigan in possession, heading towards the goal posts, but drops the quaffle as Lopez approaches! Why the hell did she do that?" _Emily was speechless for an instant before noticing why I did it. _"It is caught by Louis Weasley who was flying beneath her! Very good. Weasley is heading for the goalposts, passing to Falconer who aims for the middle post. Ravenclaw's keeper, Mason Stanford, gets in to position. Falconer aims but at the left goal post! Stanford was not expecting that and fails to intercept. GRYFFINDOR SCORE! Another 10 points for Gryffindor!"_

I scanned the pitch and saw James dive at the same moment, followed by Jones. They were getting to close to the ground.

"_It seems the snitch has been seen!" E_mily yelled_. "They're getting closer to the ground! Potter has the advantage. Potter extends his hand as he slowly brings his broom up!_ _Jones follows! And_ _Potter grasps mid-air. Has he got it?" _I held my breath. _"James Potter raises his hand, he has caught the snitch! Gryffindor WIN!" _Emily announced.

The red and gold crowd erupted into applause and began chanting:

"GO, GO GRYFFINDOR!" They yelled in repeat.

I landed and got off my broom and hugged Louis who had landed next to me. We both ran over to the rest of the team surrounding James. When he saw me he smiled and pushed by everyone to get to me. I smiled and hugged him. He pulled back and brought his lips to mine into a sweet kiss.

I loved winning Quiddith Games.


	2. Chapter 2: Choices and Advice

Chapter 2:

After a moment's blur, James pulled away from my lips. Most of our fellow Gryffindors had joined us on the field by now. I turned to see little Lily Potter behind. For a third she was not that small but being the youngest of the Potter-Weasley clan along with Hugo meant she had gotten stuck with that nickname.

"Congratulations!" she beamed as she gave me a hug.

"Thanks!" I smiled. "Next year you'll be the one to catch the snitch!"

"I have to admit I'm looking forward to next year's trials!"

"Just another year and you won't even have your older brother here anymore!" I teased.

"I will finally be able to talk to boys!" She joked.

"I can't wait to see his face once you get your first boyfriend!" I told her.

"Let's not even go there!"

We both laughed and turned to look at James talking to Josh. He noticed us looking and shot us a "_what?" _look witch made us laugh even harder.

"We should get over there and ask McGonagall to give us the Cup early this year. We're on fire. Looks like the Slythergits will have to settle for second place _again_." Fred said.

"Fred, don't call them that!" I responded. "They are not all that bad!"

"It's just a nickname, every house has one!" James informed me while placing his hands around my waist from the back. "Like Ravenclowns and Huffleduffs!"

"You don't like it when we're called Gryffindorks do you?" Roxanne, who had overheard his remark, added.

"No but that is only because we are not dorks!" James answered.

"I give up on talking sense to these boys!" I huffed while getting myself out of his grip. "Why don't we head back to Gryffindor Tower and get this party started?"

"I think that is a brilliant idea!" James grinned as he walked by me.

We began to walk off the park and back to the changing rooms. As we did so all our fellow Gryffindors continued their chants and applause. I turned to look at the crowd and saw my dad along with Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron.

"James!" I pulled him back. "Parent alert!"

We passed the message along to the rest of the gang and slowly made our way over to them. Turned out Fleur was there too along with George. We greeted them with hugs all round, we hadn't been in school that long but it was nice when they did show up to the odd match.

"Well deserved!" Ginny congratulated us.

"I just hope you won't be the first captain in five years to lose the Cup, James!" Harry joked.

"I'll probably never show my face again if we do lose it!" James grinned.

"Speaking of losing it, Casey what on earth were you thinking when you braked?" Hermione pressed. "That was dangerous! You could have fallen!"

Out of all of us Hermione had never grasped the concept of Quidditch. She never understood my risk taking during games. Everybody always laughed her remarks off and this time it was no different.

"What's life without a little bit of danger?" Ron teased. "You should know all about crazy plans, you were the one that goes us jumping on the back of a dragon!"

Hermione shot Ron a murderous look and slapped his arm. He faked pain and that's all it took to set us off again.

"We are not interrupting are we?" Zack Mason asked as he came closer with Gwenog Jones. "It's just we are on a tight schedule."

I think my mind froze just then. Zack Mason was captain for the Chudley Canons, the best team in the tables right now, and Gwenog Jones had recently become the Holyhead Harpies coach. I admired her so much that her turning up at a Hogwarts Quidditch game seemed so unreal right now.

"No you're not, please go ahead!" Ginny said with a knowing smile.

"Is it alright if we borrow James and Casey for a few minutes?" Jones asked.

"I'm sure they will be okay with that!" Ginny grinned.

James and I looked at each other and followed the two Quidditch players to a quieter place.

"You are probably wondering why we want a word." Zack said.

"Yeah, I am at least." I admitted.

"We have an offer for both of you." Gwenog said.

"What kind of offer?" James questioned.

"One of the best offers you will probably get." Zack smiled. "We would like to offer you a place on our respective Quidditch teams."

I was momentarily stunned. Gwenog Jones was offering me to play for the famous Holyhead Harpies? And James was getting a spot on the Chudley Canons? This was too good to be true.

"That's why you are here today?" I asked. "So you could have a look at our skills?"

"We had heard of them but seeing them is always best and to be honest you have impressed me Casey." Gwenog revealed. "What do you two think?"

"I'll take it." James confirmed.

"Are you sure you don't want time to think about it?" Zack asked.

"Why would I? I wanted to play Quidditch after leaving here, and now you are offering me a place on a team. Why would I refuse?" James said in a "duh" tone.

"What about you Casey?" Gwenog asked.

"I… I…" I stuttered. "I… I think I need to think about it."

"Take your time, don't rush your decision." Zack said kindly. "We have to go so we'll drop by in a few to get your final decisions and to draw up a contract if you accept."

"Thank you." I managed.

They smiled, made their goodbyes and walked off. I was ready to walk back over to our family but I felt James take my arm.

"What do you think of the offer?" James asked.

"It's tempting but I need to think about it." I admitted.

"What's to think about? It's not like you are going to get a better one!"

"How do I know I'm not? Maybe I don't want to be a Quidditch player or maybe I just don't feel ready to make that decision!" I couldn't get over the fact that James didn't understand that this decision would change our lives.

"Come off it! You would love to play Quidditch professionally!" He had snapped as well.

"You can go ahead and accept if you want but I don't want to make the wrong choice that I'll regret later!"

"So you think I'm going to regret it?" He retorted.

"I never said that! I just said you should think about it, there is no point in rushing. This offer could affect the rest of your life!" I explained.

"You're not my mother! I can make decisions myself, thank you very much!"

"I'm not getting on to you the way a mother does; I'm talking to you as a friend …" I lowered my voice. "I'm talking to you as your girlfriend."

"Well, you're not acting like one right now!" He spat.

He knew he had crossed the line because I saw him bite his tongue.

"Fine." I snapped. "I'll see you around James."

And with that I started to walk away not even turning round as he called my name. I really couldn't care less. Tears were drowning my eyes and soaking my cheeks: it's funny that in a space of a few minutes your perfect relationship can be turned upside down. I ignored my family and the others as I stormed of the pitch. Thankfully all the students had already left to go back to their common rooms. So I finally let my emotions over power me as I slid to the floor next to one of the school walls. I put my head in my hands and started to sob. I felt an arm wrap around me and I almost hexed them thinking it was James. But when I looked up, it was Jacob.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Nothing." I managed.

"Well you are getting worked up over a lot of nothing aren't you?" He made me give him a weak smile. "I knew you would smile at that."

"It's just we've never argued before and this was just awful." I croaked.

"You have to argue at some point." My brother said.

"Well, that's encouraging advice." I shook my head slightly.

"I'm wise beyond my years, you should probably listen." He joked. "All I know is: everyone fights. You and James are no different. Fights sometimes mean people have grown apart but—"

"Are you suggesting that James and I have grown apart?"

"Absolutely not!" He protested. "Sis, you need to see the way you two snog in public! I don't even want to imagine how you kiss when no one is around! What I was trying to say was that people fight when they grow apart but if you don't well that just shows that you have nothing left to fight for and your relationship has become boring."

"I guess you're right." I swallowed before continuing with a small smile. "Since when have I become the emotional teenager that cries over boy troubles?"

"I guess it's come with old age?" He grinned mischievously.

I slapped his arm and he faked pain.

"You really know how to cheer me up don't you?"

"I'm your brother, that's what I do!" Jake joked.

"Thanks."

"You shouldn't worry about James. He'll come round and you should probably go easy on him." He suggested. "He's probably a lot less confident than he is letting on."

"Yeah, that might be the case." I pursed my lips. "We argued because we've just given offers to play Quidditch professionally next year. He's pretty much accepted but I said that maybe he should think about it first."

"I wasn't excepting that." Jacob breathed out. "I should probably say congratulations."

"It's not funny; I really don't know what to do!"

"Answer this then …" He said "Do you like playing Quidditch?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then what's stopping you?" he asked.

"I guess Quidditch means travelling constantly, not being able to settle down for a while. I feel that if James and I are both away a lot, our relationship will crumble."

"Why don't you ask Ginny, she played Quidditch and managed to have a family with Harry?"

"I don't think asking her about that right now after I have just argued with her son is a good idea!"

"Write a letter, it's the best way to get what you out." He suggested.

"I really should be getting back up to the castle." I said.

"I would hurry if you don't want to be bombarded with questions from Dad and the others!" He teased.

I gave him a weak smile as I got up. I wiped my tears away and gave him a hug.

"I'll see you around." I finally said.

"I'm going to be in the common room you know." He told me.

"Are you going back to see Dad?"

"Yes and I'll tell him you weren't exactly feeling well."

"I bloody well hope you weren't going to tell him the truth! I would probably kill you!" I joked.

"Then I'm definitely lying! I wouldn't want my sister locked up in Azkaban! Then again …"

"Hey!" I slapped his arm playfully. And he grinned widely. "Thanks for the advice; I'll owl Ginny as soon as I can, maybe listening to your advice is a good thing."

"Have a nice victory party!" He wished as he turned and started walking back towards the Quidditch pitch.

"Thanks!" I said while making my way back up to the castle.

The hallways were practically deserted apart from the odd couple sneaking off together. When I saw them it made my heart ache. I wanted to go and find James and apologise but I wasn't going to be the one who went crawling back after each argument. Yep, my pride got the better of me. As I thought about what happened I realised this was the first time I had cried since we were blown back in time after the whole encounter with my mum. I had nearly reached the portrait of the Fat Lady when I felt someone grab my hand, I knew who it was.

"James…" I warned but I was cut off.

"Casey, will you please just listen to me?" He pleaded as he pulled me down a side passage we both knew too well.

"What?" I snapped.

"Listen, I shouldn't have said that." He apologised. "I didn't mean it. I'm sorry."

I just glared back at him. "You practically said I wasn't being a good girlfriend!"

"I got carried away, but why don't you want me to take the offer?" James asked.

"It's not that I don't want you to take it." I replied. "It's just that I want you to think about what it means. You'll be leaving home in September, you'll be travelling a lot and maybe you won't want…"

I was cut off by his lips on mine. It was a quick but tender kiss.

"What was that for?" I said once he had released me.

"If you think for one second that I won't want to continue seeing you if I become a Quidditch player, you're wrong." He stated.

"That's one thing I'm worried about." I confessed.

"I love you Casey Abigail Finnigan." He leaned in and kissed me again. "I'm not going to let you go that easily."

"I love you too James Sirius Potter."

"Now why don't we go and join our victory party?" He held out his hand.

"I'd be glad to." I answered as I took his hand.

We smiled at each other as we came out of the passage way and headed for the common room.


	3. Chapter 3: Optimistic and Pessimistic

Here's the third chapter guys :)

Chapter 3:

"_Drink! Drink! Drink!" _ That was what was chorused by our fellow Gryffindors later on that evening.

James Sirius Potter and Louis William Weasley were the only two left in the shot drinking contest that had started a while ago. Albus had pulled out quite early after a warning glare from Rose, who seemed to still disapprove with our post-match celebrations and Jake hadn't been able to keep the shots down after having had a couple of drinks beforehand. Josh had just pulled out and their other roommate Adrian, who I really didn't know that much about after 7 years, had gone to throw up to in the toilets. A couple of the sixth years had attempted to keep up with my boyfriend's and his cousin's drinking but had failed too.

After another couple of shots Louis still looked as though he could go all night and frankly so did James. Then it dawned on me, they were trying out their Uncle George's new product, what a bunch of gits. George, with the help of my dad, had come up with this potion that tasted and looked like firewhiskey but actually wasn't. Any player would succumb to the effects naturally but those who had brought the bottle, after reciting an incantation, would be absolutely sober. It was good party joke, especially if there was money involved in who lasted the longest. I'm guessing they had gotten the bottle from George earlier on, I'm surprised Ginny and Fleur still let him near them!

"As my dear cousin and I seem too sober for our own good, I believe we should call it a draw?" James announced.

"Yes, I believe we should!" Louis smirked.

The crowd huffed and sighed but soon found another occupation and dispersed. James came directly over to me.

"You both are cheaters." I whispered gently in his ear.

"What are you going to do about it?" He teased as he grabbed my bottle of Butterbeer off me.

"Absolutely nothing, I was just pointing it out."

"Why aren't you on anything stronger?" James looked at me disapprovingly. "We have just won a Quidditch game!"

"I wanted a Butterbeer so I took a Butterbeer. It's simple really."

"Why don't we have something stronger now?" My boyfriend proposed.

"Only, if we ditch the party and head up to the Astronomy Tower?" I bargained.

"We have a deal Finnigan." He grabbed a bottle of Firewhiskey off the table and we both headed for the portrait hole.

XxxxxX

The bottle was now half empty. James and I had left it aside a small while ago when we both decided that there were better things we could do together than just sit and drink when there was no one around. The two of us were standing with me leaning against the wall for support as we both made out in the dim light.

"We haven't done this in a while." James smirked as he gently pulled away.

"Getting drunk and making out, yeah not our style really." I shrugged. "Normally we're completely sober."

"By the way I was meaning to ask you, you've sorted things out with Louis?" He stepped away from me and down on the ground, his back against the wall, I soon joined him.

"Yeah I have. I never thought he would actually get angry with me because of _Lucy_, the Ravenclaw brainbox."

"They're just really close; I guess we all grew close to one member of the family more than another." James took another swig out of the bottle.

"I guess so." I nodded. "I still can't believe she would grass us up like that, it's not like it's any of her business why we get detention."

"She plays by the rules. McGonagall not warning our parents that we got detention for excessive PDA in the hallways was good for us but Lucy thinks it was wrong for McGonagall to do so."

"It was so embarrassing when I got the letter from Dad." I took the bottle off James. "My dad seemed really disappointed in me and that's something I never wanted to happen."

"I got an earful from my mum as well don't worry." James grinned.

A moment of silence passes between us, there was a slight wind tonight so it was getting a bit chilly. I scurried closer to James and he automatically put his arm around my shoulders as I rested my head on his.

"I don't want to grow up." My boyfriend said suddenly.

"Why is that?"

"Growing up means responsibility, we'll be working trying to make a living for ourselves. Gone will be the days of lazing around Hogwarts making fun of each other." He sighed.

"But the future holds so many possibilities. We'll be able to see the world, discover new things."

"Yeah I guess so." James seemed sceptical.

"What's wrong? You can tell me anything, I won't judge."

"We've had so much fun here over the last seven years what if it goes downhill from here? We might be the generation whose peak was the teenage years."

"That won't be true; life is always going to surprise us." I smiled.

"You're always so damn positive aren't you?" James chuckled.

"It's better than being pessimistic."

"We should really drink more often."

He brought his lips back to mine and the kissing continued for quite a long while. I felt James' hand slowly move from my waist to my thigh. I had one hand around his on the back of his neck as the other traced his jaw line. He pulled away from my lips and took them to my neck where we began to gently nibble. It was going to leave a mark and I would get stick for it tomorrow. My eyes were closed as he continued to work on my neck, it felt so good and I had missed that feeling. His hand was moving up my thigh and was getting too close for comfort.

"James." I sent him a slight warning.

"I'll be gentle." His hand reached for the buttons on my trousers, and that's when my mind fully awoke.

"James I said no!" I pushed him back.

"Why do you keep doing this?" He complained.

"We're half drunk! I don't want it to happen like this!"

"What about the last time, and the time before that?" James asked. "You can't keep making up excuses!"

"James the last time we were at the Burrow, your parents, cousins and grandparents were around, there was no way in hell we were having sex! And the time before that I just wasn't ready!"

"I know, I'm sorry." He sighed. "It's just frustrating that you keep on stopping me. Don't tell me you didn't like what I was doing?"

"Of course I did, I just … I just want it to be the two of us, no alcohol, and no family nearby just the two of us."

"If you're scared of doing it you can tell me." He attempted.

"I'm not scared James, we're talking about my virginity here."

"Yeah, I know it's important, I just wish you'd stop rubbing that in my face. I fucking gave mine away literally."

"What you and Maisy did and did not do doesn't concern me."

"It wasn't with Maisy." James stopped me.

"What?"

"Before our sixth year, do you remember that Fred and I went to the States with my dad? I met a girl and we got drunk and let's just say next morning I woke up with a killer headache and a naked girl who told me that I was good for a first timer."

"James, I didn't know…"

"I know you didn't but I'd rather you didn't talk about giving your virginity is important because frankly I'd rather not think about what happened that night."

"I'm sorry." I brought him into a tight hug.

"No I'm the one that should be sorry and trust me I really, really am."

XxxxxX

Autumn soon came and went and winter came quickly. We had been drowned in work recently and teachers were warning us to not fall behind otherwise our Christmas holidays, that were a mere three weeks away, would be hellish. Louis and I were both sitting in the common room one night laughing our heads off. We were hyper, it was a full moon tonight and as usual we were getting a tad excited.

"Will the two of you please shut up!?" Rose said as she through her History of Magic book at us in anger.

She was sitting at a table not far bent over a parchment with Albus in front of her. Rose was a workaholic, it was a Friday night and all she wanted to do was get this essay done. James, Fred and Josh were playing a game of exploding snap as Roxy and Emily watched.

"Don't tell them to calm down Rosie, they're both stoned." James joked.

The room wasn't that crowded as it was still before curfew but the few first and second years looked at Louis and me with shocked expressions.

"The two of you are stoned?" Rose got up from her seat and walked over to us. "That's breaking the 57th Hogwarts rule!"

"Rose it's a bloody full moon!" I explained. "We may appear stoned but we're not!" I couldn't help but laugh at the look on her face.

"James why the hell, didn't you tell me that?" Rose turned to glare at her cousin.

"It's quite funny to see you annoyed." He smiled back.

The both of them always bickered but I knew deep down they would do anything for each other. James Sirius Potter was a family oriented guy; it meant the world to him. I think he realised quite young that he was happy to have a family, with everything his dad went through.

"Anyway, we will see you all tomorrow morning!" I stood up and went over to James.

"You two have fun." He smiled as he gently kissed me.

"We will." Louis joked as we both walked out the portrait hole and headed down to the kitchens together.

On full moon nights, McGonagall had given us permission to walk about the castle because of our hyper-activeness. Jacob on full-moon nights was more the kind of "I'm grumpy so leave me alone" kind of boy so he just sulked in his room all night. As we descended the staircases, a lot of Gryffindors eyed us wearily; they didn't actually know we could be out after curfew on full moons. Maisy crossed our path and began whispering to Charlotte, my other roommate.

After a visit to the kitchens, Louis pulled out the Marauders' Map from his robe pocket. We checked the area for Filch and Mrs Norris but also for the prefects doing their rounds. We noticed that Al and Rose were on the fifth floor.

"Shall we go and annoy your cousins?" I suggested.

"Sounds like a really good idea!" My friend smirked.

We ran along the corridors like a pair of 5 year olds, we both stopped at the end of one hallway to check were the Gryffindor prefects were now but something else caught my eye.

"Um, Louis?" I said. "Why the hell is Kingsley Skackelbolt on the fifth floor with McGonagall?"

The blond just looked as confused as I was. Why on earth would the Minister of Magic be at Hogwarts on a Friday night?

"Let's go and check it out!" Louis pulled me along until we reached the corridor were McGonagall and Kingsley were.

We both creped round so we could hear the conversation.

"I'm worried Minerva." His voice was very low, barely above a whisper. "You told me two students found it like this?"

"Yes and the worrying thing is these two students weren't just anyone!" The headmistress added.

"Who were they and where have you sent them?"

"Albus Potter and Rose Weasley, I've sent them both to my office." McGonagall sounded really troubled. "What do you think this means Minister?"

"I think we should call the Order."

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	4. Chapter 4: Secrecy and Information

Chapter 4:

Louis and I didn't speak about what we saw to anyone. After McGonagall and the Minister had left the hallway in a hurry we went to check out what it was that had put them in such a state of distress. We both couldn't believe what we saw. We had both been left speechless, something that in our case was a rarity. We both went back to Gryffindor Tower in silence, our hands holding tightly. I didn't get any sleep that night and neither did he. The message we had seen was rerunning in my head. My mind would find no rest that night.

Things went on as they usually would. We pretended to move on but what we had seen could not be forgotten. Things like that aren't really erased. Louis and I were somewhat a bit more distant since that night. The secret was weighing on us dearly, we couldn't even open up to Rose or Al. The both of them must be feeling the same way as us right now. In all honesty they had been acting differently recently. The Hogsmeade weekend had come and neither of them had left the castle, Louis had stayed there too. I had dragged myself along for James' sake. Whatever was going on his father would be involved. And I knew that mine would be too. Every letter we received was a blessing, I knew they were covering up but the fact that the rumour hadn't reached anyone yet meant that it must be under control. God, I hoped so.

"Casey?" James snapped his fingers in fingers in front of me. "Lost you there for a minute."

"Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking." I sipped my Butterbeer in the hope that he would drop it. But James being James would not.

"What were you thinking about?" He asked.

"Oh nothing, it's not important." I smiled.

"Why won't you tell me anything anymore?" James complained. "You've been so secretive lately."

"I'm sorry."

"What's wrong, you know you can tell me anything?" He gently reached for my hand. "I know something is wrong because normally we've already started snogging at this point of the date."

"Do you think there will ever be another Wizarding war?" I blurted out.

"What? Are you crazy? Of course there won't be another one!"

"Yeah, I was just wondering, our dads' were in the middle of one when they were our age."

"And because of what they did we're going to safe." My boyfriend seemed so sure of himself it actually pained me to see his naivety.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I nodded.

"I always am." He grinned cockily.

"What do you want to do now?" I asked as I finished my Butterbeer.

"Did I not just mention snogging?" He grinned hopefully.

"Is that all you want me for James?" I said a bit harshly. "It's your answer to everything lately. We make out then you ask if I'm ready. It's like sex is the only thing on your mind right now."

"Casey, you know fine well that's not true. Sure I'm a bit pushy at the minute but I'll wait as long as you need."

"I shouldn't have snapped." I apologised. "You're a hormone crazed boy, it's only natural."

"I was hoping we could drop by Zonko's, Uncle George, as you know, owns the branch now and sometimes he leaves me stuff to test up at the school so I can give him feedback." He ended up changing the subject.

"Why am I not surprised?" I shook my head. "Let's go then."

The walk to the shop didn't take long and as James went up the back to see if there was anything for him I wondered aimlessly around the shop. I then stopped when I saw a familiar figure outside the window. Why was George in Hogsmeade? I exited the shop and crept round the side of the building. George was waiting in the cold fiddling what appeared to be a coin in his hand. After a few moments I was going to leave, he was probably waiting on Fred or Roxanne. It's when I saw a cat coming up to him I guessed this was totally different meeting. George went down the nearest alley so he would not be seen and the cat followed. I was the curious type so I quietly followed them. There was now two figures standing there, George and I guessed the other by the voice, it was Professor McGonagall.

"What is the latest?" She asked.

"A couple of Ministry employees have quit and bizarrely gone missing. The mother of one of them claims he's gone abroad but refuses to tell us exactly where. They both have a history in the Dark Arts, professor."

"Is there any need to raise an alarm yet?"

"Kingsley wants to keep things low key at the minute." George explained. "He's got Harry and Ron tracking the two men connected to what happened the other night in Hogwarts. There're the best Aurors around, if anyone can get to the bottom of this it's got to be them two."

"Clearly." The Headmistress nodded. "What about Hogwarts? Surely, they might try to target the school again?"

"Some of us will be patrolling the area. I'm in charge of Hogsmeade and Neville will be keeping a close eye in the castle. Teddy will be spending some time in the Forbidden Forest, poor lad he really got the short straw. Professor, I think you should know that maybe one of the students is responsible for..."

"I know, it has crossed my mind." She acknowledged. "This situation is not the first, Ginny Weasley was manipulated to carry out Voldemort's bidding and Draco Malfoy was ordered to kill Dumbledore by the man himself. Believe me; I am worried for my students' lives."

"After everything we fought for, everyone who died." George sounded defeated. "What more can we possibly do?"

"We never give up!" McGonagall had never sounded so determined. "I must go; I shall see you at the next Order meeting."

"Alright, good luck." George saluted as McGonagall transformed back into a cat.

I quickly retreated to the shop not wanting to cross McGonagall's path. She'd then know I had overheard the whole conversation. I desperately needed to find Louis. James was just coming out the back with a small device in his hands when I got back in and had had a moment to calm down.

"You look pale." James remarked as he trailed his thumb over my cheek. "Do you want me to take you back to the castle?"

"Yeah, yeah, I really would." I nodded as I linked hands with him and left the shop.

The walk back to the castle was awkward. James tried making small talk but I just wasn't having it. I wanted to tell him everything I knew but I had sworn to Louis not to mention this to anyone. Once we reached the gate, James stopped.

"Will you be okay from here?" He asked. "It's only one, Fred and Josh are still down there so I would rather go and join them seeing as you don't look too well unless you want me to cuddle with you?"

I smiled how I had gotten so lucky? The idea of sneaking up to his room and cuddling for the whole afternoon was extremely tempting. But no I had to talk to Louis.

"As appealing as that sounds, no, you go and enjoy yourself, I'll probably end up falling asleep. Maybe tonight after dinner, I can make it up to you?"

"Yeah, we'll see." He smiled weakly.

"I love you." I said before going on my tiptoes and giving him a light peck.

He didn't return it. I decided to be a bit more daring and kissed him a bit more. His actions were late and when he did kiss back I could tell he wasn't into it.

"James you ok?"

"Yeah sorry, I just wasn't expecting you to kiss me." He shrugged.

"I always kiss you goodbye." I reminded him.

"Yeah." He nodded. "I'll see you later." He kissed my cheek and headed off back down the road kicking a stone as he went.

I watched him go, completely puzzled, what was all that about? He was the one who wanted to snog me a mere fifteen minutes ago. I sighed and turned went through the gates. I started heading for Gryffindor tower when I walked into the common room Rose was sitting in the corner hunched over an essay.

"Have you seen Louis?" I asked her.

"No, sorry." She shook her head.

I nodded and headed up to my dorm going straight over to my bed side cabinet and lifting up the bottom panel. The Map wasn't there; James must have come out and gotten it. I made a mental note to ask how he actually got into the girls' dorms in the first place. I stood up and headed back down to the common room, Rose was still there and had been joined by Albus. I walked quickly by them and headed for the fifth floor corridor; I walked by the wall repeating the same thing in my head until the ROR appeared to me.

"I wondered how long it would take for you to turn up." A voice said from one of the couches.

"Shut up Louis. I already feel bad for leaving him."

"Why did you leave him then?" Louis asked.

"I need to talk to you, it's important." I walked over and took a seat on the couch.

And there and then I told him everything I had overheard. He didn't say anything until I was done.

"This is not good."

"No it really isn't." I shook my head.

"What do we do?" Louis asked.

"There is nothing we can do Louis."

"We could always just come clean?" He looked at me. "Ask McGonagall what's going on."

"No, I don't want them knowing that we know." I disagreed. "Let's talk to Albus and Rose."

"Yeah maybe we should, we know that they know."

"But Rose plays by the rules, she might tell McGonagall?"

"How about we just talk to Albus then?" He suggested.

"I can't keep lying to James." I said out of the blue.

"Are you going to tell him?" The blond asked.

"We'll talk to Albus first and then I'll speak to James. He knows something is wrong Louis, I hate lying to him."

"I understand." He nodded. "Why do you think talking to Albus first will make a difference?"

"Albus might know something we don't. He's James' brother I need to know how much he thinks I should tell him."

"Yeah."

"Louis, are you alright?" I asked.

"I'm just thinking." He swallowed. "There … there might be another war."

"I know." I came closer to him and brought him into a hug.

Louis and I stayed there the rest of the afternoon. No one came looking for us and we were glad. We came out of the ROR around 6. We both smiled weakly at each other before giving each other another hug. Louis kissed the top of my head before we both decided to head down for dinner. When we reached the Great Hall the others had already taken our usual seats. Louis and I both walked down opposite sides of the table. I took my spot next to James as Lou' sat next to Josh.

"Hey guys." I greeted as I gave James a kiss on the cheek.

James turned round and pressed his lips to mine quite forcefully. Normally I would stop him doing this in front of his cousins but I decided to let it happen as I'd already blown him off earlier. I kissed back grinning happily. When my boyfriend pulled away I was out of breathe and flushing. We still had that spark.

"What was that for?" I smiled as I linked my hand with his.

"I was just checking something." He shrugged before glancing at Louis.

"Alright." I smiled as I turned back to my dinner.

Once we had finished dinner we headed back up to Gryffindor Tower. Maisy was sitting on the couch and when I came in she shot me an odd glance then her eyes turned to James. She smiled and got up to walk over to my boyfriend.

"James, can I talk to you?" She asked him.

"Yeah, sure." He shot me a confused look before following his ex-girlfriend out the portrait hole.

"What was that about?" Roxanne questioned me.

"I don't know, and honestly I don't like it."

XxxxxX

I came down into the common room the following morning expecting James to be waiting on me, like he usually did. When my eyes scanned the room I noticed he was nowhere to be seen. Albus was sitting in the corner with a book; he was the only one here so I took this as the best opportunity I was going to get to talk to him.

"Al, can I have a word." I walked over to him.

"If you're looking for James he went down to breakfast about five minutes ago. He seems to be in a foul mood." The fifth year prefect told me.

"No this isn't about James but thanks for telling me anyway." I nodded as I took the seat opposite him. "I need to talk to you about something Louis and I saw on the night of the full moon, I know you saw it too."

Albus froze; his cool as a cucumber exterior dropped as he looked up at me his mouth slightly agape.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about." He shook his head nervously.

"Cut the lies Al." I snapped. "We heard McGonagall and the Minister say that you were the ones that had found the place like that. We just wanted you both to know that we knew."

"And this changes things how?" Albus swallowed hard.

"You've got someone else to talk to if you want." I shrugged. "And to be honest I needed to tell someone that's not Louis. And in Hogsmeade yesterday I overheard McGonagall talk to George…"

"Uncle George?" He asked.

"Yeah, he'll spend some time down in Hogsmeade; they want the castle under as much surveillance as possible. They are worried that what happened the other night was done by a student." I explained. "And they also mentioned something about two ministry employees quitting and then going missing and both of them have history with dark magic."

"Dad has been sending me letters saying I shouldn't worry that what I saw the other night was under control." The younger boy told me. "Things are worse than he's letting on; I overheard Neville talking to McGonagall last night."

"What did they say?"

"They think this is the beginning of another uprising." Albus revealed.

"I think they might be right." I sighed. "I hope things will calm down but events like these are no mere coincidence. Things don't just happen, why send a warning and a threat to Hogwarts if it didn't mean anything?"

"What do you think the message actually meant?" Albus raised the question.

"That no one is safe and that if we don't listen there will be consequences."

"_No matter what house, year, student or staff will escape. Joining us is the only way. Pick your loyalties wisely._" Albus recited.

"And all in blood." I added.


	5. Chapter 5: Rumours and Leaving

Chapter 5:

Albus and I finally walked down to the Great Hall together, I felt a lot better. Telling Al was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. When we got near the Gryffindor table I actually stopped dead in my tracks. James had his head on the table, Fred next to him saying God knows what to him but what really set me on edge was the fact that Maisy was on his other side rubbing the back of his neck soothingly. My fits balled immediately, I wanted her to get the hell away from _MY_ boyfriend right now. Seeing them both liked this brought too many painful memories back… Right I wasn't going to look through them…

"Casey, standing here isn't going to get her away from him." Albus broke into my thoughts.

"Yeah, I know, it's just …" I trailed off before shaking my head. "Not a very pleasant sight."

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

I shoved him playfully before heading straight for them. They were speaking in hushed tones; Fred seemed to be trying to talk James out of something.

"Morning, guys." I said so that they would acknowledge my presence.

"Hi." Fred answered nervously before turning back to his breakfast.

"Have a nice evening?" Maisy asked me snidely she still had her hand in James' hair.

"I didn't really do much." It was taking all my will-power not to slap her.

"I'm sure that's a lie." She commented.

"Look, I'm going to be as nice as possible with what I'm about to say, but do you mind taking your hand off _my _boyfriend?" So I was a bit of the jealous type.

"You're a bit of a hypocrite you know that?" Maisy stood up.

"Excuse me?" I asked her.

"You heard me."

I felt like slapping her. What stopped me was the fact that James wasn't doing anything and _that_ was more infuriating.

"Casey, we need to talk." James suddenly said. He got up from his seat and walked off without even looking at me.

I sent a quizzical look to Fred who watched his cousin go. When the boy met my gaze he cringed. He knew something that I didn't. I turned round and followed James, pushing past other students so I could catch up. He had left the Great Hall in quite a hurry, when I finally caught up with him he was leaning against the wall in a more private area. I walked up and stood in front of him.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Rumours say you're cheating on me." He revealed bluntly.

"What?" I said as my eyes widened.

"I'm just repeating what I heard." James defended.

"Of course it's not true! Where do all these rumours come from?" I asked.

"Casey, Maisy told me she saw you and Louis come out of the Room of Requirement yesterday and I know you both are really close and I don't know recently you have been distant and it-"

I took a step closer to him and gently pressed my lips to his. "James, you talk far too much."

"You understand where I'm coming from right?" He said as he ran a hand through my hair. "You told me you were feeling ill and then someone tells me they saw you with Louis. I guess I just panicked."

"I wasn't feeling too well and I went to the Room of Requirement and Louis was already there." This technically was not a lie. "That's all; nothing is going on between us. I wouldn't even think of cheating on you."

"I trust you." His forehead rested against mine. "I've just been worried about you lately."

"Don't worry, I'm fine and I'm not going to be dumping you for your part-veela cousin." I chuckled.

"I heard that we had broken up as well." James smiled. "Why I didn't know is a good question."

"You learn a lot from rumours apparently." I joked. "I mean I didn't know I was with Louis."

"I should be angry shouldn't I?" My boyfriend grinned. "I mean you left me for my cousin."

"You probably should."

We were so close now that my lips were already brushing against his. James swiftly changed that. His soft lips were on mine in an instant. The kiss was sincere and gentle. His right hand rested lightly on my back as his left remained on the side of my face. We weren't in a rush, there was no lust just love. I had missed this type of kiss; recently James had always been a bit rough. I was glad to have found his caring and romantic side again. As we both pulled away, grinning and our faces tinting pink, I leant my head on his chest, my hands still wrapped around his neckline.

"I love you." He mumbled into my hair as he cuddled me just that bit tighter.

In that moment we both wished that our lives would always be like this, just the two of us sharing a tight embrace away from all eyes. But life had other things planned.

XxxxxX

Over the next few weeks nothing big happened. The only thing was James had signed for the Chudley Canons and I had decided to play for the Holyhead Harpies. Ginny had been helpful just like Jake had told me. She made it quite clear that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I would be crazy to refuse it.

After the Christmas holidays we had been drowned with work in preparation for our N.E.W.T.S and time seemed to speed up. Fred had gotten himself a girlfriend, the Gryffindor who had been tutoring him in Transfiguration since last year. All of us had been really happy for him; I just hoped the girl knew what she was getting into.

We had heard nothing more about this Dark magic movement that had been troubling me. I had nearly forgotten all about it. The Prophet had not reported any strange so I just assumed that it had been sorted and kept on the down low so no one would panic.

As the year drew to a close, I didn't know how to feel. Excited about what the future would bring but also a bit nostalgic, Hogwarts had been our home for 7 years, was I really ready to let it go?

I woke up and looked at the time. It was 7:00 am. I slowly got out of bed, by the time I had had a shower and gotten ready, everyone else had just started to stir.

"You're up early!" Roxanne noticed.

"Well I'm sorry if I want to get some revision in before our last exam!" I rolled my eyes.

"It's not until two, we have plenty of time." Roxanne shrugged as she lay back down.

"Em Roxy, that's the written exam at two." Emily reminded her. "We have the practical at ten this morning."

"What?" Roxy shot back up.

"Yeah, remember we have a practical?" I said. "When did you think we were having the practical for DADA? Tomorrow maybe? Oh wait no, tomorrow is our graduation ceremony!"

"Oh damn." The girl groaned.

I shook my head at her mix-up and took my books before making my way downstairs. When I got down there were only a few people there, including Rose.

"Rosie, will you please explain why you are revising, you don't have any exams left. You've done them all!" I teased.

"I think I got something wrong on my History of Magic paper so I'm just checking." Rose told me.

"Just chill, you'll be getting Outstanding anyway and I'm pretty sure you didn't get it wrong."

"You never know she might have had a brain blockage and answered every question wrong." Fred joked from behind me.

"Oh, shut up Fred." Rose snapped.

"Merlin, you get crankier as you get older!" Her cousin mocked while sitting down on the couch.

"Leave her alone Fred." I smiled.

"Morning, guys!" James greeted as he came down from the boys dormitories with Louis.

James walked up to me and slipped his arms around my waist before bringing his lips to mine.

"You guys make me sick." Fred complained.

"Sorry Fred." I apologized as I stepped away from James.

Taylor had just broken up with him because she thought that having to date someone who was not going to be here next year was not going to work. I felt really sad for Fred; he really liked this girl and still did. I went and sat next to him.

"Come on, why don't we go and get some breakfast?" I suggested.

"Yeah, I'm starving." James agreed.

We finally got Fred to get up and together along with James and Louis we headed down to the Great Hall. We were soon joined by Roxy, Josh and Emily. After that we headed outdoors to revise some of the jinxes and spells that we could be asked during our practical.

"Expecto Patronum!" I chanted and a magnificent white vixen pranced out of my wand.

"Lovely." James complimented.

"Thanks." I smiled. "Come on your turn! I've never seen you patronus before. "

"Expecto Patronum!" A fox burst out of his wand.

"A fox?" I whispered in astonishment.

"Always has been."

"James." I said. "Did you know that my dad's patronus is a fox?"

"No, I didn't." He smiled.

"You did!" I accused.

"Fine, he did tell me and was presently surprised when mine was too." James slipped his hands around my waist.

"It's very rare when couple have matching patronuses you know?" I told him. "A fox and a vixen, curious isn't it?"

"Not really, we're both cunning and can pull things without being caught."

"I didn't mean it that way." I said "I meant that it's curious we have matching patronuses! My parents didn't have the same one neither do yours."

"My grandparents did though!" James remembered. "My dad has the same one as his dad, a stag and Dad's mother's was a doe. And I believe Severus Snape's was a doe too."

I smiled, the sun was shining above us and I knew this would be the last time James and I had the chance to be here together.

"I can't believe we're not coming back here next year." I sighed into his chest.

"We'll be off flying round countries playing Quidditch." James said.

"I just hope we'll get to see each other." I sighed again.

"I promise we will."

I was looking forward to the start of the season but letting everything go was not going to be easy. I looked up into James's eyes as he leaned in to kiss me. I didn't want to let him go however we had to get to our exam.

The day went by quickly funnily enough, the paper and the practical weren't as hard as I expected so I was confident about getting good results.

"So how did it go?" Louis asked as we both left the Great Hall at the same time.

"It went well actually." I replied. "But I think I definitely had trouble on question 16!"

"Absolutely, it was the hardest one there!" He winked.

Question 16 had been about werewolves, they had asked five symptoms that show someone had the gene, having a couple of them myself, having a mum as a werewolf and two friends with a bit of the gene, I think I managed.

Louis and I headed back to the common room together. Maisy was sitting on the couch when we got there. She raised an eyebrow as she saw us. I guess the rumours were still being fuelled.

"How did it go Maisy?" I asked.

"It could have been better." She admitted. "But I'm hoping for Exceeds Expectations."

"I would like that as well." Louis agreed. "Missy here will want to get Outstanding!"

"I'm hoping I will." I smiled.

"But haven't you taken a contract to play for the Holyhead Harpies?" Maisy asked.

"I have but I don't see why that should mean I don't have to get good grades at my N.E.W.T.S.?"

"I was just asking!" Maisy snapped.

Recently she had become really annoying and would make a mountain out of a molehill. She huffed and headed upstairs. Louis and I started to laugh as we both sat down on the couch waiting for the others. We spent the rest of the evening in the common room before heading back down for dinner. Tomorrow was our graduation and I felt kinda sad knowing this was our last dinner here. We were leaving tomorrow evening after the departure feast. After we headed back up to our dorms and headed straight to bed. We had a lot of packing to do in the morning.

XxxxxX

The next morning I woke up early and started packing, this was the first time I was going to have to go every inch of our dorm since my first year. I felt depressed as I took down the pictures that I had hung up over the years around my bed. I smiled while looking at one of The Golden Marauders that had been taken last year. I was going to miss those guys.

"It's quite sad isn't it?" Roxy said. "This room is no longer going to be ours in September."

"It's going to be a whole bunch of first year girls that get it." I realised.

"I'm going to miss this place." Maisy admitted.

"I think everyone does once they leave." Emily stated.

"I've just found our instructions to make the potion that turned the Slytherins' hair red for a week." I said while pulling a parchment from under my bed.

"What good memories to take away." Emily sighed but she did have a small smirk.

"Anyway what are you guys wearing tonight for the graduation party?" Maisy asked.

The graduation ceremony was this afternoon but we were having a party later on this evening to celebrate. Just amongst seventh years of course except if you brought a date that was in a lower year.

"A nice red dress." Emily shrugged.

"There's a shock!" I joked. "A red dress for Emily, I would never have guessed!" Emily just loved that colour.

"And what about our little fashion lover?" Roxy asked Maisy.

Maisy had a love for fashion and designing so you could be sure that our dress was going to be breath-taking.

"I'm wearing this elegant dark pink flowing gown that falls to the ground with heels." She smiled.

"It sounds lovely!" I said politely but honestly pink isn't really my scene. "What about you Roxy?"

"I've opted for a small red and black knotted dress with black pumps." She said.

"You girls really know how to go and impress the boys!" Charlotte said as she came back into the room.

"What are you wearing then?" Maisy asked her best friend.

"I'm going to be wearing a neat white dress with silver cloth around the waist. It's short with lairs." She explained.

"And what are you wearing Casey?"

"I'm a Gryffindor all the way so I've wearing the house colours." I smiled.

"Tonight is going to be great."

"Slightly bittersweet though." I added and everyone nodded.

We finished packing and headed down to breakfast together. We joined the boys at the table.

"Finished packing already?" I asked.

"It doesn't take forever you know." Louis remarked.

"You just throw things so of course it doesn't take long!" Josh said.

We finished breakfast with a good laugh. We all headed back up to our dormitories to get ready. Once we all were ready dresses and all we pulled our school robes over them. It was weird I was going to be wearing these for the last time.

"Ready to go?" Roxy asked.

I nodded and we headed downstairs where James was waiting patiently for me. He was wearing his robes, as it was compulsory, over his black suit and red tie.

"You look beautiful." He gasped after I had kissed him.

"That was the point." I teased.

He took my hand as we followed Roxy and Fred out of the common room. Most students were heading back up to Gryffindor tower seeing as they weren't graduating. As we reached the entrance of the Great Hall, I saw my dad and both my brothers waiting with Bill and Fleur. We obviously went in their direction.

"Aren't they so sweet?" Fleur said in her strong French accent as she saw James and me.

"Thanks." I smiled.

"Am I not sweet?" Louis joked as he came up behind us.

"Of course you are honey!" Fleur hugged her son; I took that moment to hug my dad and Aidan.

"I bet you just can't wait to actually go to your graduation ceremony Jake?" I teased my younger brother.

"After having to sit through Aidan's and now yours I can't wait for mine!" He joked.

"Has anyone seen my parents?" James and Fred asked together.

"I think they're over there with McGonagall." Bill said.

"I'll wait here then." James muttered.

"May I have your attention please?" McGonagall yelled over the crowd. "If all guests could please enter the Hall while I speak to our seventh years?"

Everyone slowly started moving away, I caught a glimpse of Teddy and Victoire as well Dominique. Once everyone had entered the headmistress turned to us.

"It has been a pleasure teaching you, I hope you all know that." She smiled. "Now please get in lines of two so you can enter. You have designated seats in the front row by house. Now if you will follow me."

We got into line, me by James, Fred and Louis, Roxy behind with Emily and Josh next to Adrian, their other roommate. We walked into the Great Hall accompanied by a great applause. This was going to be something to remember.


	6. Chapter 6: Love and Hate

_I feel so bad for having neglected this for so long ... I've just been really busy since September with Uni and all. Anyway here it is, I'm ahead in my writing now so you will get a new chapter every Saturday or Sunday until this story is over now! Again I'm so sorry! Please review it make me happy ! :D _

Chapter 6:

**_Christmas 2022 _**

"Come on Dad, it's not going to kill them!" I asked using my puppy dog eyes to try and soften him up.

"It's too dangerous." Dad said.

"How is it too dangerous, you had us on a broom since we learnt to walk?" Aidan helped.

"This is different." Our father tried to tell us.

"Come on Uncle Shay, it's not going to kill us is it?" Alana, my 17 year old cousin piped in.

"No way in hell." He replied.

"You're one to talk about dangerous. At her age you were a member of an illicit army and fought in a bloody battle for crying out loud!" I reminded him.

"Casey, there is no way that you and Aidan are going to get your brooms and take your cousins for a ride in the garden!"

"I promise I'll be careful!" I pleaded.

"Casey, even I know that won't work." Aidan chuckled. "You can hardly go a week without ending up in a situation that will get you killed or in some sort of trouble!"

"I'm still alive aren't I?" I reminded him.

"Only just!" Jake said while coming into the kitchen. "From what I remember the longest period of time you've gone without ending up in detention was a couple of weeks. And that was just because you had been knocked out by a bludger and lying unconscious in the hospital wing."

"What's a bludger?" Toby, my 19 year old cousin asked.

"It's this magical ball that we have during Quidditch games." Aidan informed.

"It flies about and tries to knock you off your broom." I continued.

"And to help, each team has two beaters to hit them to try and knock the other team's players of their brooms!" Jake finished.

"Sweet!" Toby replied.

"Unless you get hit by both at the same time, when you're high up and you're not expecting them to come near you." Dad gave me a knowing look.

"That was not my fault!" I defended. "Those gits got what they deserved in the end!"

"That they did." Aidan muttered.

"Dad, please." I tried again. "There are no bludgers, just me and a broom. I won't try any death tricks, as Hermione calls them, while they are on the broom with me." I smiled.

"Fine, but if they get hurt, I will personally explain to their parents when they get back whose fault it is." He caved.

"Thanks Dad, you're the best!" I gave him a quick hug and ran upstairs to get my broom and pads.

I ran out to the garden where everyone was waiting for Aidan and me. Dad was putting up some shielding charms so the neighbours wouldn't get the shock of their lives. And thank Merlin he decided that warming charms were a good idea too!

"Shall we warm up first?" I smirked at my brother.

"I think we definitely should!" He winked as he got on his _Meteorite. _I hopped on my _Firebolt 3 _and joined him in the air.

"Here I've got a quaffle, shall we have a go?" He asked.

"You mean show off?" I smiled.

"I do." He joined me.

He threw the quaffle gently and I caught it easily. He could be a little bit more challenging than that.

"Let's see what we've have taught you, shall we?" He said as I threw the quaffle back.

He threw some really tricky and awkward shots but I always caught them. He threw another one and I had to dive to get it and nearly hit the ground but I brought my broom up just in time.

"You mad idiot!" I yelled back at him playfully.

"The two of you are scaring me!" Alana warned us.

I looked at my brother and we both landed.

"Come on, it's not that dangerous once you get the hang of it and plus we're not going to get you to try that. We just wanted to get you up in the air, because you're not magical you can't control the broom yourself, you have to be with one of us."

"Is that an owl?" Hannah, my 18 year old cousin, who had been watching us from the patio asked.

"Yeah, it looks like Artemis." I said.

"Who?" Toby asked.

"Yeah, it's my friend Roxy's owl." I replied. "But why in Merlin is she sending me an owl?"

"Beats me." Aidan said but my gut instinct was telling otherwise.

Artemis came and landed on my shoulder and dropped an envelope before going to land on a tree branch. I opened the letter and read aloud:

_Casey,_

_I'm sorry to disturb the time you're having with your family but I've got some pressing news. It is better you hear it from us than from some bloody reporter when you get back. Louis, Lily and I will be dropping in later. I'm sorry it's not going to be a pleasant meeting but you are going to find out sooner or later and we all agree it should be us who tell you. Artemis will probably arrive not long before us seeing as she is taking the postage route. Ginny is "accompanying" us but I think she just really wants to get away from home. Let's just say it's not a very happy place right now but I'll explain once we reach you. Please stay in so we don't have to wait. I'll see you later._

_Yours sincerely, _

_Roxy Weasley._

"What the hell is that all about?" Jake asked as I finished reading the letter.

"How in hell am I supposed to know?" I replied.

"Filch." Aidan swore.

"Why do you guys keep on saying that?" Toby asked.

"It's basically the name of the old and creepy caretaker back at Hogwarts and we use his name to swear because it meant we wouldn't get into trouble when we were younger. It's kinda stuck with us." I explained.

"You guys are weird you know that?" Alana informed us.

"I know." I smiled.

"Casey, why in the name of Albus Dumbledore is Roxy and co here to see you?" Dad yelled from the kitchen window.

"It's time to find out." I cringed as walked back into the house followed by the others.

"Hey guys!" Aidan, Jake and I greeted as we saw the unexpected guests sitting in the living room.

"Hi." The all muttered unenthusiastically.

"What's up?" I questioned.

"Promise me you won't start going ballistic?" Roxy temped.

"Why would I go nuts?" I asked.

"Roxy leave it, she has every right to be angry!" Ginny snapped.

"You've woken up on the wrong side of the bed!" Dad joked.

"Shut it, Finnigan." Ginny spat. "You have no idea how humiliated I am right now."

"You guys are starting to scare me." I said. "What's going on?"

"It's just that …" Roxy started.

"Stop beating around the bloody bush Roxy!" Louis interrupted. "James was caught on camera snogging another girl yesterday on a night out!"

"WHAT?" I yelled.

"You have got to be fucking joking!" Dad swore.

"I'm afraid they're not." Aidan confessed.

"YOU KNEW!" I turned to my brother. "WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"

"They told me not to!" Aidan said. "They told me to wait for them to break the news!"

"THAT CHEATING GIT!" I yelled. "I SWEAR I AM GOING TO FIND HIM AND HE IS GOING TO REMEMBER THAT DAY FOR THE REST OF HIS MISERABLE LIFE!" I was yelling louder than I thought I ever could.

"He's just booked himself a bed in St Mungo's." Louis joked.

"Casey, I'm really sorry." Ginny apologised. "I don't know what he was thinking but trust me he has already faced the wrath of his mother."

"He ain't seen anything yet until I get my hands on that little brat." Dad backed me up.

"When you mean caught on camera." I said while taking deep breathes. "What do you exactly mean?"

"_Secret Skeeter,_ Rita Skeeter's gossip mag snapped him." Lily threw me a copy. "It's today's front page story."

I looked at the front page and there in the middle was a picture of James with his lips glued to his mystery girl's. I sat down on the couch and began to read the article to myself:

_Shocker for Potter_

_James Potter, 17, new seeker for the Chudley Canons, son of the famous Harry Potter was snapped last night kissing Violet McClaggen, 19, at a Christmas party._

_This incident has caused a lot of controversy seeing as this handsome young man is in what most people call "a serious relationship" with childhood sweetheart Casey Finnigan, also 17. While speaking to one of their close friends, I was informed that both of them had complete trust in the other so something like this should never have happened .What remains to be investigated is how James Potter's girlfriend will react to these events. Casey Finnigan is known for her chaser skills but many know her for her thirst for revenge and her not so patient temper. James Potter was spotted leaving the party alone last night to go back to his family home. Rumours are circulating that the reception did not go to well and is now staying with his cousin, Fred Weasley II, his partner in crime since they were toddlers. His mother, Ginny Potter nee Weasley, refused to comment on this incident branding it as "a personal matter" and that I should go and "beetle off". She was heading out accompanied by her daughter, Lily 13, her niece and nephew Roxanne and Louis Weasley both 17 who are close to both Casey and James. I tried to ask where they were heading but I got no answer. I am led to believe they have gone to find Casey, who is out in Ireland spending time with family over the Christmas break. Do not worry my dear readers I will get to the bottom of this story and I will find out all the gossip that's happening behind closed doors._

_I shall keep you posted on this story as it develops. Thank you for reading!_

_Sincerely, from me, myself, and I, the one and only Rita Skeeter._

"I already hated this woman but this time I think its past hatred." Ginny told me.

"Is James really staying with Fred?" I asked calmly.

"Yeah he is. I saw him when I got up this morning." Roxy confirmed.

"Well, I'm off to London." I announced.

"Don't do anything you'll regret." Aidan advised.

"Trust me I won't regret it one bit." I said through clenched teeth.

"You can't just leave!" Alana said to me.

"I can do what I bloody want!" I snapped.

"Alana, just drop it." Hannah told her sister.

I got up leaving the paper on the couch. I headed for the hallway and grabbed my coat. I was soon followed by Roxy and Louis.

"Lily and Ginny are not coming." Roxy told me.

"Well, Lily wants to but Ginny won't allow it." Louis corrected. "They'll be heading back home in not long though."

I nodded but did not speak: I was saving my voice. We walked out the door and made our way to the apparition point that would take us to Dublin so from there we could get to the apparition link between the two countries. We did the journey in complete silence; they both could tell I didn't want to talk. My mind was set on giving hell to James Sirius Potter.

We got to Dublin about an hour later. We approached the ticket booth to get the tickets of authorization to travel abroad. The man behind the desk handed the tickets over and told us we had to wait an hour before we could go anywhere. We turned and sat down on the benches where a few other people were waiting. The wait was silent, they knew better than to try and get me to speak. They knew I would end up taking my anger out on them and trust me that was the last thing I wanted. The guard called our names along with a few others and we headed to the apparition link. I stepped into it and apparated, followed by Roxanne and Louis.

As we reached London, it was raining and the sky was grey. It was early afternoon but it would be getting dark soon. We made our way out to the street to grab a muggle bus that would drop us a couple of streets down from Fred and Roxy's apartment.

I took a deep breath as we reached the front door. Fred and Roxy's parents had got them a place in a muggle neighbourhood for their graduation. It was a great spot, handy for any trips into muggle London and to Diagon Alley. Fred had taken over WWW and Roxy was currently training to be an Auror.

"You don't have to face him now you know?" Louis said while placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"If I don't do it now, I never will." I admitted as I rang the doorbell.

"You don't need to ring, I live here!" Roxy reminded us.

It didn't matter as Fred had already come and opened the door. When he saw me his face dropped and he swore under his breath.

"It's nice to see you too!" I faked a smile. "Is he here?"

He simply nodded and moved out of the way to let me in. I had been here before so I knew exactly where to head. I walked down the hallway and opened the first door on the right that led into the living room. I stopped dead when I saw him. He was lying on the couch reading a book. Well at least I knew he was taking it easy! I coughed to announce my presence. He jumped and sat bolt upright letting the book fall to the floor.

"Casey." He attempted.

"Don't bother." I snapped.

"Will you please just hear me out?" He tried again.

"No, I won't listen to your lame excuse!" I raised my voice. "How could you do this? I really thought I could trust you James. But evidently I was wrong to ever put my trust in you."

"I never meant that to happen." He pleaded. "Can we please just talk about out before you start a fight about it?"

"You're the reason that we're in this mess." I replied. "You cheated on me James."

"Do you think I meant to hurt you?" He answered. "I swear to you that it was a mistake, I never planned it. I regretted it the second it happened."

"You're only sorry because you got caught." I said dryly.

"I swear I'm not."

"James, don't." I choked.

"I'm sorry." He apologized.

"You thought I would easily forgive you?" I asked in astonishment.

"I thought that once you would have heard me out, you would." He admitted.

"I thought everything was fine, but you have to go and break it all, after you accusing me of cheating with Louis!" James opened his mouth to say something but I was on a roll and he wasn't going to get a word in. "I love you with all my heart but I can't do this anymore. I wouldn't bother coming round to say sorry to me, it will be my dad showing how sorry you'll be."

"Please don't do this Casey." James pleaded.

"You would just love me to forgive you right?" I smirked. "I'm tired of you messing this up and most of all messing me up."

"Casey, I didn't mean to..."

"I don't always tell the truth but that's only when we did our little pranks. When it comes down to the rest I'm always honest. You cheated on me and here you are paying for last night."

I turned to leave the room but I looked at him one last time to add.

"I'm thanking you, deep down."

"What?" James asked.

"I'm thanking you for showing me what you really are underneath." I said. "If it had never been caught on camera we'd still be together. So thanks for showing me that the boy I love is actually just a heartless git."

"Fuck it; you really like messing with my head, don't you?" James swore.

"Compliment accepted." I replied while heading for the door.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" James called after me.

"Who do I think I am?" I said not looking at him. "I think I'm the girl that gave you her heart and you tore decided to tear it apart."

"I know you're disappointed but can you please just give me one more chance?" He took my wrist and forced me to face him. "Can we try one more time; I promise I won't mess it up."

"Answer me this." I said looking directly into his eyes.

"Anything."

"Why did you kiss her?" I demanded.

"I don't know." He said but I saw something in his eyes. It just didn't look right. "I don't know it just happened. It was nearly natural but the instant it happened I knew it was foolish."

"I hope this honest mistake was worth losing your girlfriend." I got out of his grip and hurried out of the room and slammed the front door behind me before anyone could say a word.

I made my way back to the bus stop and looked up the buses but the last one had already left. I felt someone behind me and I nearly drew my wand thinking James had followed me. Once I realised who it was I fell into their arms and let all my tears fall. He let me cry my eyes out while wrapping his arms around me protectively.

"You can't go back to Ireland tonight." Louis's reassuring voice told me. "And you can't stay with Roxy, well you can but I don't think it's in your best interest to. So it seems you're stuck with me."

"I don't want to bother anyone; I'll just get a hotel room for the night."

"Nonsense!" Louis objected. "You're always welcome at home. Come on, we can apparate there from anywhere. But we should get off the road first."

He took my hand and led me into an alley out of everyone's view. I felt the usual tug behind my navel as we apparated away. When we landed I could smell the fresh salty breeze all around me. I always loved going to Shell Cottage, it was clean and the scenery was magnificent. I loved being next to the sea, it brought a tranquil feeling and a peaceful aura. Louis hadn't let go of my hand and he lead the way through the small gate. He led me up the path to the front door which he opened once we reached it.

"Louis?" A French accent called from the kitchen. "C'est toi?"

"Oui maman, c'est moi. " Louis answered in French. "Casey is here." He finished.

"Did you just say Casey was 'ere?" Fleur said while coming into the living room. She smiled when she saw me. "Casey, it's wonderful to see you!" She smiled while giving me a small hug.

"It's good to see you too Mrs Weasley." I answered.

"Please, call me Fleur. Mrs Weasley makes me feel old." She smiled. "How many times have I told you? You are just on time for dinner." She turned and headed back to the kitchen.

"Mum has always liked you. She says you're one of the sanest people she's met that has anything to do with this family." Louis grinned.

"Thanks, I think." I said.

"Give me your coat I'll hang it up." He gestured to my jacket. I took it off and handed it to him.

"I'll go and give your mother a hand with the food." I proposed as I watched him hang my jacket up.

"She won't want your help, trust me." Louis said. "You're a guest; you shouldn't have to help with dinner."

"I'm not exactly supposed to be here, am I?" I reminded him. "It's not like this was pre-arranged!"

"Arranged or not, you're my guest and guests don't help prepare dinner the first night they stay." Louis contradicted.

"Fine, but I'm helping to clear the table afterwards." I said.

"Louis and Casey, you don't have to stay in the doorway you know!" Fleur called. "Come on! A table!"

Louis and I both smiled at each other as he led the way into the dining room. I was surprised to see so many sitting at the table and quite honestly a little out of place. Bill of course was there along with Victoire and Dominique but it seemed they liked bringing their boyfriends to dinner. Teddy and Quinn, well at least I think that's his name, had obviously been invited. Great, I had just cried my eyes out and had to spend dinner with happy couples. Fantastic.


	7. Chapter 7: Truth and Understanding

**_Here's the next one ! I would really like you guys to review because I'm starting to feel like the story is just no getting read and I'm getting worried... By the way I would like you guys to submit more names for me, boy or girl, I've not quite decided yet so please go ahead. The character will not appear in the next couple of chapters but I'm working on the ones after that so I need names :) _**

Chapter 7:

I smiled at the guests and sat down in the seat Louis indicated. I was going to be between him and Victoire. Fleur was sitting at one end of the table with Bill at the other. The other side of the table was occupied by Teddy, Dominique and Quinn. Ted in front of Victoire and Quinn in front of me.

"Long time since I've seen you!" Teddy said to me.

"Yeah, I believe the last time I saw you, was probably at Harry's birthday party?" I tried to remember.

"It was. That day was an interesting day to say the least." Victoire added.

"I would qualify it as a disaster myself." I smiled.

"What happened?" Quinn asked.

"My cousins are a little immature for their age." Dominique said in a condescending tone.

"We might have _accidently _let loose some Cornish Pixies during dinner." I clarified.

"I never understood why you lot had Cornish Pixies!" Bill interjected.

"Fred was trying to make fake ones to sell at the shop, so he needed real ones to observe." explained Louis.

"I'll never get tired of your logical answers." Bill said while digging into the meal.

"My mum would have killed me if I had had brought anything of the sort back home!" Quinn told us.

"Mum's been threating to kill me for years but she has never gotten round to it." Louis smirked.

"Not gotten round to it _yet_." Victoire added.

We all smiled at her comment. I liked Victoire; we had always gotten on well. She was one of the prettiest girls I had ever seen but she didn't play with it. She was the most down to earth girl I knew, even though she did have that little temper packed up inside her, unlike her sister.

Dominique and I had never really clicked. We didn't have much in common, I mean she hated Quidditch and spent most of her Hogwarts years gossiping and changing boyfriends like she changed clothes. She always seemed like she felt as if she was better than the rest of her family, her ego was definitely too big for her own good. She didn't seem to have any sense of humour either. She always did things her own way and never listened to others advice.

"So how long have you been dating?" Quinn directed his question to Louis and me.

I choked on my chicken and nearly spat it out. Thankfully I avoided that and managed to swallow it. Louis hadn't been so lucky, he had been having a drink at the same moment and spat the whole thing everywhere. Fleur sighed and waved her wand at the mess that cleared up instantly.

"WHAT?" Louis and I yelled in unison.

"Seems you hadn't got round to asking each other out yet, my bad. At least you just get it over with now!" He replied with a satisfied smile.

"You are joking right?" Louis glared at him.

"No offense to Louis, but no way in hell!" I pointed out. "It would be like dating a brother!"

"None taken." The blond said back.

"Why on earth would you think of something like that?" I asked Quinn.

"Look around, the whole table is formed of couples, me and Dom, Ted and Vic and obviously Bill and Fleur. I just assumed Louis had finally brought a girl home!" Quinn defended himself.

"I don't want to be rude, but Louis and Casey as a couple would be quite weird to imagine being honest." Victoire butted in.

"You can say that again." Teddy added.

"Casey has a boyfriend anyway." Dominique said.

The room fell silent. It seemed that she had not seen the article.

"What?" She noticed. "It's not a secret she's dating James!"

I felt tears come to my eyes. I quickly rose from my chair and exited the kitchen as quickly as I could and trying to stay calm at the same time.

"Dominique, you're an idiot!" I heard Louis say.

"What did I do?" She asked.

"Look at the gossip mag you love so much." Victoire snapped.

"I don't understand, what's wrong with her and James?"

"If you took the slightest interest in your family instead of just your boyfriend you would have noticed that James was on the front page today swapping saliva with another girl!" Louis yelled.

"Louis calm down." His mother warned.

"No I won't calm down! I'm sick of her never paying attention to what this family is up to! When was the last time she came for a family dinner at the Burrow? You don't even come on Christmas day anymore! You're the only one in this entire family that doesn't give a damn about what happens to your siblings or your cousins! Do you even know what I'm doing this year?" He stopped only because he was out of breath.

"No, I don't." She admitted in a weak voice.

"For your information, I've started working in the Department of Muggle Relations. And Roxy wants to be an Auror! Our git of a cousin James is the seeker for the Chudley Canons. Victoire has just graduated as a healer. Fred will be running the joke shop WWW. Anything else I need to fill you in on? Why should I bother anyway, your head is too far up your boyfriend arse to give a damn at what goes on in this family! Why do you think no one mentioned James? Casey has just broken up with him because he's just broke her heart! You really are as low as they get, Dominique Diane Weasley."

"That's no way to talk to your sister!" Bill growled.

"Someone had to; she's been at it too long!" Louis snapped back. "Plus she's been keeping secrets for too long."

"Louis, don't you dare!" Dom panicked.

"Try me." Louis challenged.

"That's enough!" I yelled as I came back into the kitchen. "I don't want you fighting because of me!"

"This is not because of you; you're just the final spark to light the fire." Louis told me. "Someone needed to bring her enormously large head back down to size!"

"Louis, stop it!" Fleur told him "Now, can we all sit down and finish dinner in peace."

I wiped my tears and sat back down. The rest of dinner was spent in silence, except from Fleur and Bill making the odd comment about work. It was Victoire that said something to get my attention.

"I met Neville today in Diagon Alley." She said. "He told me that McGonagall is taking her retirement at the end of this year."

"Really, why?" I asked.

"She's saying that she's loved her job but she's getting old." Victoire explained.

"There's a shock." Louis muttered so I gave him a nudge in the ribs with my elbow.

"But that's not the main reason." Victoire smiled. "McGonagall said it was also because her job will be losing its spice. She doesn't really think she'll get many students in her office for troublemaking next year." Victoire gave Louis and me a knowing look.

"I always knew she loved our little meetings with her!" I high-fived Louis who was grinning widely.

"It's amazing to think, that McGonagall is leaving because we're no longer there to keep her entertained." Louis said while leaning back on his chair.

I smiled and continued my dinner.

"That was lovely Fleur." I complimented.

"Yeah Mum it was." Louis added.

"I'm guessing you're staying the night?" Bill asked.

"Louis insists." I gave him a glare.

"Well I wasn't going to leave her in the street or let her try and get back to Ireland!" Louis protested.

"I think it was a very good idea." Fleur said. "But we will have to change the sleeping arrangements. Teddy you are in the room on the landing to the left." Fleur reminded him and he just nodded. No matter how long he and Victoire had been together the rules in the house stood: no sleeping together. "And you Casey can take the one on the right."

"Thanks." I smiled.

Quinn and Dominique left not long after, no surprise there. I helped Fleur clear up along with Victoire then headed upstairs to take a shower. I fell asleep almost immediately but I was waking up every couple of hours. I got up and went downstairs to the kitchen to help myself to a glass of water. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw someone there. When I realised it was only Teddy, I calmed down.

"What the hell are you doing up at this hour?" I asked.

"I couldn't sleep." He was playing with a small box.

"You should just ask her and get it over with." I told him while pouring myself a glass of water.

"I just can't pick up the courage."

"You shouldn't be nervous, she loves you and you love her."

"It's not that easy." Ted smiled.

"She'll say yes." I assured him.

"How are you holding out?" His tone got lower.

"I'm hanging in there." I sighed.

"I think there is something behind it in my opinion." Teddy admitted.

"What do you mean?" I was puzzled.

"James goes on about you all the time, Casey. I hate to reveal something like this, but he was going to give you a promise ring at Christmas. He thinks you're too young to get engaged but wanted you to know how much he cared for you." Ted explained.

"Yeah well, he's got a funny way of showing it." I snorted.

"All I'm saying is that something must be seriously wrong with him. Casey, I'm not joking. James must be in a very bad situation if he did something to hurt you." With that he got up and left me alone with my thoughts.

Was it possible that Teddy was right? I never thought James would be capable of doing this to me but why didn't he just tell me if something was up? Why would he do something like this if he did really care for me? I finished my glass of water and headed back upstairs to bed. My little trip downstairs did not help me sleep it actually made it far worse.

I think it was about nine-ish when I woke up; I hadn't slept well at all but I forced myself up anyway. Victoire had lent me some of her old clothes that were still in a good condition. Her style wouldn't have been my first choice but I was thankful for the set of clean clothes.

After I had gotten dressed, I went downstairs to see that everyone else was up. Bill and Fleur had already left for work in a hurry seeing there was some kind of emergency. Teddy was reading the latest issue of the Daily Prophet while sipping on a cup of coffee. Victoire was getting herself some cereal and Louis was helping himself to toast.

"Morning." I mumbled as I walked into the kitchen "You're all early risers in this family."

"You get used to it when your parents are always up at the crack of dawn." Victoire smiled as she turned and sat at the table.

"I'm off to work in a bit so I needed to get up." Teddy revealed.

"What?" Victoire asked. "I thought you were off this week?"

"Um… I was supposed to but last minute meeting I'm afraid." Teddy told her.

I glanced at Victoire's hand and saw no ring. I rolled my eyes at Ted's lack of guts.

"Casey, tea I suppose?" Louis asked.

"That would be great thanks." I said while sitting at the table. "I'll be off soon as well."

"Back to Ireland?" Teddy wondered.

"Not directly, I need to go and sort something out first." I admitted. "As I'm back here better make the most of it."

"And what might that be?" Ted raised an eyebrow.

"It's none of your business." I smiled.

"I hope they are not worried about you, you didn't tell them you stayed the night with us." Louis reminded me while placing a cup of tea in front of me.

"Dad's used to it by now; he'll get worried if I don't contact them by tonight."

"How are you holding out?" Victoire asked.

"I'm dealing with it." I was trying to convince myself not just the other three people that had their gaze fixed on me. "There is nothing much I can do really but build a bridge and get over it."

"If you ever need to talk I'm all ears." The blonde promised me.

"Thanks." I genuinely meant it.

I looked at Louis's plate and grabbed a slice of toast he hadn't touched yet.

"Hey!" He complained.

"If you snooze, you lose." I stuck my tongue out childishly at him.

We finished our breakfast with small talk about work, family and friends. At about 10, Teddy said he had to get going so I decided to take my leave at the same time. I got my clothes from the day before and put them in a bag Victoire leant me and put my coat on ready to brace the winter's harsh weather. I said my goodbyes to Louis and Victoire and thanked them for their hospitality. Ted and I walked up the path and once out of earshot of the house I broke the silence.

"Off to work are we?"

Teddy seemed to hesitate before answering. "Yeah, I was supposed to be off but last minute replacement." He mumbled.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on or am I going to have to force it out of you?" I glared at him.

"You really are too smart for your own good." He told me.

"I'm not stupid, Teddy. What's going on?" I gave him my best glare.

"I'll explain once we get to the twins place." He took my hand and readied to apparate.

"There is no way in hell you are taking me to see James!" I protested.

"Sorry but you've asked for the truth and this is the only way you are going to get it." He turned on the spot I was dragged with him.

We landed in the same spot Louis and I had used to get away from the place the day before. Teddy dragged me along the street and soon enough we had reached the twins' door.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." I felt sick and weak.

"Backing down now is not the option." Ted rang the doorbell.

We heard someone unlock the door and open it. Roxy was standing in her dressing-gown giving us a murderous look.

"There better be a damn good reason for you to wake me up at this time on a Saturday morning, Teddy Lupin and Casey Finnigan.

"Trust me there is." Teddy assured her.

She reluctantly let us in and drove us to the living room. I shuddered as I saw the place. The memories of last night flooded back. I struggled to hold my tears back.

"What can I do you for?" Roxanne asked.

"We're here to see James as a matter of fact." Teddy revealed.

"You're joking right?" Roxy shot me a bewildered look. "Why in all that is logical on this earth would you want to talk to a low-life such as James Sirius Potter?"

"It's a long story Roxy, so I would appreciate we cut the chat and could get straight to the point. Can you get him?" Teddy sighed.

"He's in the guest room, you can get him yourself." Roxy walked out the room and I heard her go upstairs. Ted soon followed telling me to wait here.

I sat down on the couch but felt uncomfortable knowing James had lay here last night just before I came to end it. I got up and walked over to the window to look out. A couple of oddly dressed muggles were standing on the opposite side of the street. I wasn't an expert, but this looked highly unnatural. I heard footsteps come back into the room and I turned. I saw Teddy sit down on the couch while James stood awkwardly in the doorway.

"Hi." He attempted, I didn't even bother to reply and instead addressed Teddy.

"Now will you care to explain?"

"It's a long and complicated story and a bit of a shocker so you might want to sit down." He advised.

I was taken aback by his warning as I saw worry grow in his eyes. This seemed a lot more serious than I had expected. I sat down in the armchair that was against the wall where the door was. James sat down next to Teddy and stared at the floor. When he looked up I refused to meet his eyes and instead glared at Teddy urging him to continue.

"We've got some bad news I'm afraid." Teddy began. "A few days ago James and I were in Diagon Alley when we noticed a couple of blokes stalking us. We took a couple of shortcuts but every time the guys found our trail. It was no coincidence. So we waited in a dark alley for them to approach. And they did. The next thing we knew we woke up in a dark room, Merlin knows where tied to a chair each. Our wands had been taken from us so we wouldn't be able to apparate."

"Ted you're scaring me." I breathed. I started to remember everything that had happened at Hogwarts. Albus had told us that Harry told him that everything was under control but from what Teddy was saying I had a slight hunch that it was not. I really wished Louis was here right now.

I ran a hand through my hair nervously. James made an attempt to get up most likely to come over to me but when he caught my glare he readjusted himself and leaned back into the couch again.

"Casey, please just listen." James told me. "As Ted said we found ourselves in some sort of hideout totally unaware of why the hell we had been brought there. A man came into the room and smirked in our direction. I still don't know who the hell he was, he spoke with a foreign accent. They want to set the world right in their opinion and the way to do it is to gather as much information as they can, and what better way than to get it straight from Lupin and Potter's sons?"

"There is an uprising going on." Teddy clarified.

"I know all about this." I confessed.

"How do you know, the Ministry have been keeping this all on the DL?" Ted gawked at me.

"It's complicated." I mumbled. "Teddy, you know about the message that was left in Hogwarts, right?"

"Course I do." He nodded. "Albus told you?"

"No." I took a deep breath. "Louis and I saw it. It was the night of a full moon. I also overheard McGonagall talking to George in Hogsmeade as well. They reckoned it was the old supporters of Voldemort."

"That's why you wanted to go back up to the castle that day." James realised.

"Yeah." I confirmed.

"Casey, it's not just old supporters of Voldemort. Sur most of them will rally to the cause but it's not them who are leading this. It's an old group of foreign wizards who agreed with Grindelwald's ideas that are at the heart of this."

"That's why the warning didn't make sense." I looked up at Teddy. "It wasn't correct English. 'No matter what house, year, student or staff will escape.' So it wasn't just a mistake."

"Exactly." Ted told me. "You should have us you both knew."

"Yeah well Louis and I were kinda freaked out by it." I retorted. "And this is why you're not proposing to Victoire? And also you haven't explained how the hell you got out?"

"Yes, this is why I haven't proposed to Victoire." Teddy answered. "They let us go. They tried getting information out of us and it didn't work, they're not very good at Occlumency so they didn't get anything out of us but …" Teddy cut off and glanced at James.

"If we whispered to a soul what had happened they wouldn't kill us they would go after our families and friends." James sighed.

"And Victoire is top of the list in my case, so making her my fiancée right know would not be a smart move if I want to keep her out of the spotlight." Teddy explained.

"That's stupid Ted, ring or no ring you're still in love!" I reminded him.

"Well at least I don't I don't go and kiss other girls to get her out of harm's way!" Teddy protested in a loud voice.

"What?" I said back.

"I'll let James explain that one." He got up from the couch and slammed the door behind him leaving an awkward silence in the room.

"What was he going on about James?" I finally managed.

"I … I kissed …Violet McClaggen so that you … you know you would break up with me … to … to keep you safe." He stuttered.

I looked at him in shock. At first I didn't believe him, why should I? But his body language was all wrong, we had known each other all our life and I knew when he was lying. He would play with the bottom of his shirt and his lips normally curl on the right side. But this time, nothing, he was biting his lip and ran his hand threw his messy black hair a couple of times. That was his nerves speaking. I got up and sat down next to him.

"Why would you do that?" I asked.

"I didn't want you to get hurt." He mumbled to his hands as he put his head in them.

"And you thought I wouldn't get hurt this way?" I moved closer to him.

"I didn't think all right!" James looked up at me.

"Why did you try and stop me last night then? If you had planned this through, why did you tell me you regretted what you did?

"Because it felt wrong!" He replied. "I just couldn't let you go; it was the hardest thing I've ever done, watching you walk away like that. You were in freaking tears for crying out loud! I promised I would never hurt you and I did. I felt awful. Then you left me, Louis punched me and followed you. Roxy won't even look at me. I know I deserve it. All I was left holding last night was my regrets."

"I can't forget what you did James, it's too late and you can't take it back. Seeing you kiss her was like getting shot by the Killing Curse. It's one of the worst things that has ever happened to me." I told him. "I can't believe that you would let this end just because of some empty threat."

"I want you to be safe." He gave me a pained look. "Casey, I'm sorry, I really, really am. It was stupid and I didn't realise what I was letting go until you were gone."

"Apology accepted. But please promise me one thing?" I told him, I could see the guilt in his eyes.

"Anything." He promised.

"Don't you dare do anything behind my back again or I swear I will leave you for good."

"Terms accepted." He put his hand out and I shook it.

He smiled and closed the gap between us locking his lips with mine. I didn't kiss back at first wanting to punish him but I couldn't resist his touch. One of his hands came to my waist while the other one uncrossed my arms and entwined our fingers. This was one of the things I hated about how he could make me feel. I was always in control but when he touches me I melt. It made me feel so helpless but I enjoyed it for some mad reason. Maybe being able to let go of the reins once in a while is good? Butterflies erupted in my stomach and my skin felt like it was on fire. I tried to resist for as long as possible but there was nothing to it. I caved.

As I started to kiss back I felt his smile of triumph against my lips. I let go of his hand and brought both of mine to his neck and grasped the back of it and pulled him towards me. His other hand came to my waist as he gladly pushed me down. His tongue licked my lips begging for entrance as it usually did and I granted it permission. We were snogging the bloody hell out of each other. Our kiss was passionate and yet I could feel the tinge of guilt in James. He was on top of me now as I lay helpless underneath him. Merlin knows how long it lasted but I didn't want it to end. The feel of his soft and tender lips on mine drives always leaves me wanting more. The tips of his fingers on my skin were absolute bliss. But I finally did come back to my senses and took hold of the reins again. I disconnected our lips and pushed him away slightly.

"What was that for?" He whined still looking down at me.

I pushed him completely off me and sat up. "You can't win me over that easily James. You still really hurt me; I can't just go back to snogging you like that with no care in the world. I don't want to be that push-over girlfriend that lets the boy do anything he wants."

"I'm sorry about what I did." James took both my hands in his and looked straight into my eyes. "You don't have to forgive me. I know what I did was wrong and I take responsibility for my actions. But I never ever want you to think that you're a push-over because you're not. You could kick my arse before I even have time to draw my wand. I want you to believe in what you say I don't want you coming back to me because you feel you have to. I love you and nothing will ever change that but I want you to be happy."

"James." I murmured. "I love you but what you did was unbelievable, I don't care that you did it to 'keep me safe' because you know fine well I'll find myself in the middle of this somehow. You're not forgiven, it will take time but I will forgive you. The truth is I don't think I'll ever be able to fully let you go."

"We're a messed up couple aren't we?" James smiled.

"Why do you think that?" I wondered.

"Even when we fight you turn me on." He leaned in and kissed me softly but quickly. "Last night when we were arguing I had to fight the urge to grab you and kiss you."

"You really are quite the flirt?" I teased.

"Always." He admitted.

"We are a weird couple though." I corrected.

"Come again?"

"We're weird." I repeated. "What other couple would spend Valentine's Day in detention or play a game of Quidditch with the family on their anniversary?"

"It's what makes us different, why be like every other couple?" James said.

"Even if we tried we wouldn't be like any other couple!" I laughed.

"I love your laugh you know?" James whispered.

"Will you stop with the compliments?" I blushed.

"You get really cute when you blush." He breathed into my neck and I felt a shiver go down my spine.

"James, please stop." I giggled as I bit my lip. "This is not the time for this."

"You don't mean it, you know how I know?" He asked and I shook my head. "You're biting your lip; you do that when you're trying to hold back the urge to do something."

He kissed my neck and trailed his lips up it. And I moaned against my will.

"I told you so." He teased just brushing my lips.

"Shut up and kiss me, you idiot." I begged and he obliged.

I wrapped my hands around his neck and his found my waist. It was our natural thing to do; he always pulled me closer by the small of my back as I pulled him closer by my grasp around his neck. This felt so wrong but at the same time how was I supposed to resist him? We deepened our kiss as the door opened.

"CASEY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Roxanne yelled.

"What does it look like?" James snapped. "She's snogging her boyfriend!"

"BOYFRIEND?" Roxy shrieked. "YOU ARE HAVING A LAUGH! YOU PLAYED WITH HER FUCKING FEELINGS!"

"Roxy will you please calm down?" I tried to reason with her.

"How can you go back to someone that did this to you? I thought you were a smart girl!" She slowed down.

"HE ONLY DID IT BECAUSE THERE ARE BLEEDING IDIOTS THREATING TO KILL ME!" It was my turn to lose it.

"What are you going on about?" Roxy looked at me wide eyed.

Before I could say anything Fred and Teddy walked in.

"We have company outside." Teddy said.

"Why the hell are people circling our house?" Fred asked.

"Oh crap…" James swore.


	8. Chapter 8: Kiss and Tell

**Next chapter guys ! Please review, I want to get some feedback please it's really important to me ! And please give me some name ideas, I have a few but it's always good to get some from the people who read the story :) **

Chapter 8:

The next thing I knew there was an explosion and the windows around the house were gone. I felt James grab my hand and Teddy the other. I felt the tug behind my navel and knew instantly that we had apparated out of the twins flat. We landed with a thud on grass. The place was freezing but as I looked up I recognised the Burrow. James pulled me up and practically dragged me into the house. Teddy, Fred and Roxy were there as well.

"What has happened to you?" I heard Mrs Weasley yell in a slightly panicked voice. Mrs Weasley obviously being James's grandmother.

"We've been attacked!" Teddy yelled. "You've got to get Harry here now! And the rest of the old Order and Dumbledore's Army! Things are getting really urgent and dangerous!"

"That's an understatement." I mumbled and James fought a smile but a small grin appeared on his face nonetheless.

I followed everyone into the house when I noticed that Fred had a gash at the side of his head.

"Fred, you're bleeding!" I told him.

"Gees, I hadn't noticed!" He replied sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes and made my way over to the couch were Roxy was sitting her head in her hands.

"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" She breathed deeply between each word.

"I wouldn't mind knowing myself." Harry said as he walked into the room.

I looked to Teddy who nodded and explained everything that had happened since he had dragged me to the twins' house earlier on. No one spoke as Teddy talked; the room was filled with a sad silence. Everything they had fought for all those years ago was back. Sure there was no Voldemort this time but they had lost loved ones to make sure we didn't have to go through hell. The world was in a better way since May 2nd 1998 and today all that peace had fallen apart. Mrs Weasley was sobbing into her husband's chest and Harry had gone paler than I had ever seen him.

"We need to get everyone to a safe house and put protective charms up." Harry said after Teddy was finished. "I'll go the Ministry and warn them. Get Ginny and Hermione to go to Hogwarts. They should stop of at the Leaky Cauldron and get Hannah. Once they get there make sure they watch out for anything suspicious and guard the secret passageways into the Castle."

"What about the rest of us?" Ron asked; he had arrived not long after Harry.

"Ron, I need you to get Seamus and Dean." Harry advised. "George, Angelina and Luna wouldn't do any harm either. Get them and meet me at the Ministry. Use the DA coins to send this message: "Urgent meeting at the Burrow tonight. Tell no one. Constant vigilance."

"I'll get on it." And with that Ron apparated.

"What about us?" I asked.

"You are to stay here and not move." Harry told me.

"Fat chance of that." I replied.

"This isn't a game, this is serious Casey." Harry said firmly.

"You're one to talk!" I stood up. "You, my dad, my mum, all of you, fought in a battle while you were still in school!"

"That was different." Harry sighed.

"How is it different?" I raised my voice. "I'm 18; I'm not a kid anymore. I'm old enough to help!"

"Fine, why don't you find Louis and get him here?" Harry caved.

"Gladly." I replied.

"I'm going with you." James declared as he stood up as well.

"I don't need protection." I glared at him.

"No but you might need help." He said coldly.

"Are you two sure you can go find Louis without killing each other?" Harry asked, obviously oblivious to the fact that we had snogged less than an hour ago.

"We've made up since the incident." James revealed.

"What?" Harry glared at his son. "You go and cheat on her and she's okay with it?" He looked at me. "I know you like him but really?"

"It's not as simple as that." I said meeting Harry's green eyes. "He did it to protect me. They were ambushed a couple of weeks back and were threatened. He was only doing what he thought was best even though it was utterly idiotic."

"I see." Harry mumbled.

"Anyways, back to finding Louis." I cleared my throat. "We better hurry up."

I walked over to James and took his hand and we instantly apparated. We landed just on Shell Cottage's doorstep. I knocked and there was no answer. I reached for the door handle and turned it. The door was open. I shot a worried look at James who drew his wand and I did the same. We walked cautiously into the house and heard hushed voices coming from upstairs. We made our way over to the stairs and climbed them trying to make as less noise as possible. But we're talking about Casey Finnigan and James Potter here; we're not exactly the most discreet people in the world … far from it actually. But whoever was there didn't seem to notice our movements. The noises were coming from Louis' room. This wasn't good. I took a deep breath taking in all the air I could. I felt James squeeze my hand. I turned to look at him and he nodded. He mouthed "One, Two, Three." On three we opened the door. Only to barge in to a very awkward situation.

Louis was on his bed with a girl in his arms kissing each other passionately. Out of all the things that have ever happened to me this was the most awkward situation I have ever found myself in. As Louis took notice of our presence he pulled away from his mystery girl and his eyes widened blushing furiously. But that soon disappeared as he caught sight of James. His eyes narrowed and he was off the bed in a spilt second pinning James to the wall.

"Louis, what the hell are you doing?" James chocked.

"How dare you show your face hear, you worthless git?" Louis growled.

"Louis, please stop it." I said while dragging my best friend off my boyfriend. "It's not what you think."

Louis released James and turned to me.

"After what he did to you, how can you say everything is fine?" Louis bellowed.

"It's complicated alright?" I snapped.

"No, it's not alright Casey!" Louis protested. "This guy snogs another girl last night and you just think it's all okay? You were crying your eyes out all night! You hardly slept over this prat!"

"He had his reasons." I answered. "We'll tell you about it later, right now we have bigger problems!"

"Like what?" Louis huffed walking back over to his bed and pulling the girl up. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and faced us.

I could tell she was embarrassed and looked slightly terrified as well. She was looking everywhere but at James and me.

"I don't mean to be rude, but do you mind telling us who she is?" I finally said, making the girl go red.

"This is Sydney." Louis smiled. "She's … ummm … well … she's … she's my girlfriend." He admitted.

I couldn't help but suppress a smile. Louis had a girlfriend? This was so amazing.

"Why didn't you tell us?" I grinned. "How long have you been hiding her?"

"We've been together for three months." He muttered.

"Three months?" James and I said in unison.

"Is that a problem?" The petite brunette picked up.

"Absolutely not." I reassured her. "It's just how did Louis manage to keep this from us? You can never keep a secret for a week in this family!"

"Simple, I just shut my mouth." Louis grinned. "You should try it sometimes, it actually works."

"I try to be good but I always get bored." I flashed a cheeky smile.

"That's my girl." James joked as he placed his hand around my waist. I saw Louis' hands clench slightly.

"Now why don't we cut to the chase and tell me why you two are holding sticks in your hands?" Sydney asked. She was definitely not as shy as she had first appeared.

"They're wands what do you think they are?" I said sarcastically.

She looked bewildered and Louis shot me look I had never seen him wear before. It clearly read " . . . !" I bit my lip and looked down; I had really done it this time. She had to be a muggle; of course she had to be! Where would the fun be if she wasn't?

"Louis what is she going on about?" She turned to face Louis.

"Umm… well… it's…" He hesitated.

"Just tell her and get it over with." I encouraged.

"Tell me what?" Sydney looked absolutely lost.

"Listen Sydney, I haven't been totally honest with you." Louis took her at arm's length and inhaled before continuing. "I love you and Casey is right I should just get this over with."

"I love you too Louis, but what is it?" She was looking directly into his eyes.

"I'm a wizard." He revealed.

"Come again?"

"I'm a wizard, as in magic and flying brooms." He repeated.

"This is a sick joke right?" She looked at me in desperation.

"I'm afraid not." I confessed.

"Oh my God." She sat down on the bed.

"I know this is hard to believe but please don't freak out." Louis pleaded sitting down next to her.

"I'm not going to run off if that is what you think." She smiled shakily. "This is amazing … but still creepy."

Having werewolf genes in me I heard the door creak downstairs and a couple of blokes walk in.

"I hate to interrupt but we have got some company." I whispered.

James walked toward the door and closed it.

"We head for the Burrow now. I don't know about you guys but I don't want to wait and see who the visitors are." His voice was higher than usual.

"What's going on?" Louis asked in utter confusion.

"Let's just say there had been a slight glitch in the system and some nutters are trying to kill us?" I tried to break the tension.

"That's cutting it really short, now can we please leave?" James begged.

"Agreed." Louis mumbled taking Sydney's hand. "You're going to feel really sick after this but we don't have a choice. Just hold on and don't let go whatever you do." He told her.

"Wait. What?" She stuttered.

"We'll explain once we reach the Burrow." James said while taking my hand.

I saw the look of horror on her face as Louis apparated. I squeezed James' hand and we disappeared.

We landed as planned just in front of the Burrow. Just before us were Louis and Sydney. Sydney was bending over clutching her stomach. She had probably just thrown up, I remember the first time I had used side-long apparation… I don't even want to remember. James and I walked up to them and felt something strange just as we reached them.

"Protection charms." I mumbled.

"They are not taking anything carelessly are they?" James said.

"Not after last time." I answered.

"Gran, they're back!" Fred yelled from the kitchen window. "They've got Louis and some girl that I have never seen in my 18 years of existence!"

"I'm guessing I'm the girl?" She turned to me.

"Yeah, you're the girl." I confirmed. "And you are in for a rough couple of hours."

"Why is that?" She looked apprehensive.

"Because, we kinda have this unspoken rule in the family about when we bring the girlfriend, or the boyfriend home for the first time, the others seem to start evaluating them to see if they suit or not." James explained.

"That's just the beginning." I shuddered. "Wait until the "welcome to the family initiation night". I am going to remember that evening for years to come."

"Do I even want to know?" Sydney asked me.

"You really don't." I assured her.

"Will you quit scaring her before she even takes a step into the bleeding house?" Louis interrupted.

"Sorry, but she has got to be prepared for the lunatic asylum that she is about to walk into!" I joked.

"I hope you're not talking about me!" Fred said as he came up to us.

"You a lunatic?" I repeated. "Never!"

"You are probably the sanest person in this family Freddie!" James added.

"No need to push it, he'll start believing it." Louis coughed into his shirt. Sydney giggled.

"You're no better!" Fred smacked Louis in the arm.

"I'm not the one that sets Cornish Pixies loose!"

"Yeah, but wasn't it partly your fault we got flung back in time?" Fred reminded him.

"You were sent back in time?" Sydney eyes had widened.

"It's kind of a long story." Louis admitted.

"You'll hear about it sooner or later." James added. "Our family likes to bring it up when we prank or mess around with something nowadays."

"Instead of standing at the gate, couldn't you just get in?" Roxy yelled from the door.

Fred turned on his heels and went back into the house followed by James and me and finally Louis and Sydney.

"Louis, it's great to know that you're safe!" Mrs Weasley pulled her grandson into a tight hug.

"I was in one piece up until now Gran; can you please not break my ribs?" Louis choked.

"I'm sorry sweetie." She said while pinching his cheek. "Now who is this pretty girl?"

"Gran, it is Casey you already know her!" James placed a kiss on my cheek.

"I know who she is James; I've known her since she was born!" Mrs Weasley told her grandson. "I was talking about the pretty brunette here."

"Gran, this is Sydney." Louis introduced. "She's, well, she's my girlfriend." He went a light shade as pink as he spoke.

"Oh it's lovely to meet you dear!" Mrs Weasley went and gave her a massive hug.

"Gran, I would like her alive, please." Louis smiled. He was the only one that would get away with these comments.

"It really is a pleasure." Mrs Weasley beamed. "I don't think I've ever seen you before. Did you go to another school or maybe in a younger year?"

"Um, Gran, she's a muggle." Louis revealed.

"Really?" She said. "Wait until Arthur sees you, he will be delighted and I'm sure Molly will love to meet you as well."

"How is Molly doing Mrs Weasley I haven't seen her in a while?" I asked.

"She's going great!" She smiled proudly. "She is really enjoying her post at the Ministry. She's just been promoted you know. It's a very demanding job, dealing with muggle relations."

Molly Weasley, Percy and Audrey's daughter, was two years above me at Hogwarts. I didn't really know her that much seeing as she was sorted into Ravenclaw, was a house prefect and then made Head Girl in her last year. Within the Hogwarts boundaries I liked to avoid her for obvious reasons, she was like her dad when it came down to pulling pranks and breaking school rules. She wouldn't hesitate to dock points or give detention to her own cousins. I remember our fifth year when Louis came in to the common room with a sour look on his face when she had caught him snogging his girlfriend at the time in the corridors after hours. He always blamed me for that because I was the one that had told them to go make out somewhere else than right in front of us. When I did meet her (mostly when I wasn't up to something) or outside school she was really great. Molly was really kind, smart and sensible. I got on well with her but we disagreed on a lot of things. She was surprised when I told her that I was the kind of student that slacked off on homework but revised like mad before exams. She was even more surprised when I told her I got Outstanding in most of my O.W.L's. We followed Mrs Weasley into the kitchen where a couple of people were waiting. The two of them being Lucy Weasley and Joshua Thomas who looked sleep deprived.

"You two are looking great." Fred joked as he saw them.

"I'd say you have never looked better!" James added.

"You should keep up the zombie look, it suits both of you." Louis continued.

"Could you give me a few tips on how to get the look?" I finished.

"Oh shut up!" Lucy said while burying her head in her arms. "I have hardly slept in the past couple of days so please just drop it!"

"And you are ones to talk, Casey and Louis, I would be a millionaire by now if I earned a galleon every time you two looked like this. Even worse the both of you get hyper before it then hit rock bottom after it."

"It's not exactly our choice is it?" I said while sitting down at the table. "If I could get rid of the werewolf genes I would."

"Werewolf genes?" Sydney cried.

"Yeah, we're part werewolf." I said making her eyes go wide. "Don't worry, we don't transform or anything like that. My mum did, she was bitten by a werewolf when she was 17. And Louis's dad got attacked by one but he didn't get bitten enough to transform."

"Please save me." Louis muttered. "This was why I hadn't told anyone about her because I didn't want her to flip out."

"I'm not going to run away Lou'." Sydney took his hands. "It's just going to take a while to get used to that's all."

"That's great!" Louis sighed in relief before leaning down and kissing softly.

Normally we would be the ones to interrupt but we were at the Burrow. Our reactions were too slow and someone beat us to it.

"Louis Weasley!" Mrs Weasley yelled. "You know that I don't like to see public display of attention!"

Louis jumped away from Sydney and whacked his head against a cupboard. Both of them were blushing furiously and the rest of us started laughing. Mrs Weasley gave James and me a stern look before saying.

"I don't see why the two of you are laughing! The amount of times I've caught you kissing around this place is uncountable!"

James and I stopped laughing immediately blushing like a pair of tomatoes. Mrs Weasley sighed and left the room saying she had to tidy the place up for the meeting that was going to happen later on.

"Where do you go?" Louis asked us.

"What?" James and I said.

"Come off it, both of you are always disappearing when you're round here. And don't deny it!" Fred interrupted. "I think what Louis is asking is where you two go and make-out without being caught!"

"That's what I mean." Louis admitted.

"You guys are really sick you know that?" Lucy commented.

"We didn't ask your opinion." I snapped. "The day you'll bring home a boyfriend we'll see how long you last without being caught! It's not as easy as it looks; your Gran has got eyes everywhere!"

I really hated Lucy. I might not know Molly much but I still liked her but Lucy, her sister, just sets my teeth on edge. I didn't like her and she despised me. She was a Ravenclaw like her sister and mother. She was in our year but never would she be seen with her cousins around Hogwarts. She didn't like to admit that she was even related to them but unfortunately for her even if she changed her name it wouldn't help much. She had the Weasley's fiery red hair. She was the goody-two shoes of the family; if we ever did anything she would go and snitch. We had had a few arguments in our few encounters. One had ended in me punching her, that didn't go down to well with anyone, only Roxy, Fred and James had stood up for me.

Needless to say, they didn't really get on with her that well either. For some weird reason she got on well with Louis, he had given me the cold shoulder for a while after that incident. I really couldn't give a damn about her feelings and would remind her every opportunity that presented itself to me. One of the things I would constantly remind her was that she was single. Lucy was the kind of person that would fault every other person's relationship even though she had never been in one herself. She was the one that grassed to our parents about me and James's detentions for PDA in the hallways that were considered a little too bold for the school corridors. McGonagall was kind enough to only contact our parents for our destructive and dangerous rule breaking not this embarrassing subject but little Lucy had to go and tell our parents once we came back for the holiday breaks. I don't think my dad has ever scolded me more in my life; yeah not even the time James and I turned the castle pink for Valentine's Day.

So anyway to put it plainly we hated each other's guts. When we received our OWL results, I was proud to boast that I beat her in every subject we had in common. That didn't help our hatred get any better it only made it a hell of a lot worse.

"I can't believe we are having this conversation." Roxy sighed.

"Neither can I." Sydney agreed.

"Back to the point." Louis said. "How do you guys you know …"

"We don't." We answered truthfully.

"I don't believe that for a second." Josh smiled.

"You heard Gran, she's caught us Merlin knows how many times." James told them. "We've never been the secretive ones. We always get caught."

James shuddered probably remembering the time she saw us snogging our faces off at the bottom of the garden behind the rose bushes from her bedroom window when we were supposed to be collecting them for Bill and Fleur's wedding anniversary. The house was full at the time. Who could blame us for wanting some privacy to make-out? I remember that day not just because it was probably one of the most heated kisses we had ever shared, wait scratch that, the most heated kiss we have ever shared but because we spent the rest of the evening doing the dishes with no magic what so ever. It wasn't fun because they were 50 guests that evening and that's not counting the next generation kids. But in some way I couldn't blame her, she had warned us on several occasions and she had caught us snogging like there was no tomorrow. When she had appeared next to us, I had my legs wrapped around James while he was holding me up by my higher thighs. And to top it all off I was wearing a short dress so James did have his hands under it on my skin. It was a very awkward moment to say the least.

"Well can we please change the subject because this is bringing back bad memories?" James asked.

"I would love to." Roxy agreed. "It's not exactly the conversation you want to have."

"What isn't a good conversation to have?" A new voice asked.

We all turned to face it, but I cringed before turning round because I already knew who it was. It was Harry Potter. I glanced at the others silently pleading that they would not tell him but Fred's smug smile told me otherwise.

"We were just talking about James and Casey's kissing habits." He smirked.

James looked at him and brought his finger to his throat and did 'the slicing movement' across it before pointing to Fred.

"I wouldn't mind a change of subject either." Harry said awkwardly. "I've caught them a few times and it's enough."

James and I blushed again and I didn't dare to look at Harry.

"I think I'm going to go and get some air." I announced.

"I'll join you." James added desperately.

"Try to not get too carried away children." Fred joked.


	9. Chapter 9: Reality and Promise

Chapter 9:

James and I made a rather quick escape from the kitchen and walked out to the garden. I felt James' hand slip into mine as we got there.

"Well that was very awkward wasn't it?" He smiled at me as we continued heading for the back of the garden.

"Embarrassing would be a better fitting word in my opinion." I corrected.

"It only became embarrassing when Dad walked in really." James thought.

"So do you make it a habit talking about our personal-life to that lot?"

"Not really." He admitted. "But when you think about it we've caught them making-out with a few people in our time at Hogwarts."

"True but have you ever caught a girl with her legs wrapped around Fred?" I asked him.

"No … you've given me these horrible visions now…" James shuddered.

"Exactly." I told him. "So I ask again: would you go and tell Fred or Louis that I've had my-"

"I get your point!" James cut me off. "It's would be weird to tell them what we do get up to."

"Yeah." I admitted. "Now can we go back in, I'm absolutely freezing?"

"Only if I get a kiss?" James helped me up.

"What if I say no?"

"I'll lock you out here." James smiled as his arms found my waist.

"I could just unlock the door with my wand."

"I will have confiscated it."

"I'm sure you would, I'm sure you would." I giggled as my hands started playing with his collar.

He leaned down and touched my lips ever so gently before pulling away.

"I love you." I whispered.

"I love you too." He said as he pulled me into a hug.

"Do you think we're going to make it out of this?" I suddenly asked.

"Of course we are." He reassured me. "Everything is going to be fine."

"I wish I could believe you." I mumbled.

As we stood there in each other's arms there was a sudden movement that caught my eye. I looked up and on the other side of the barrier a guy was walking around. He was wearing black and seemed to be looking for something.

"James." I whispered.

"Uh-uh." He mumbled into my hair.

"Someone is out there." James turned and drew his wand directing it to the guy. "It's alright; he's on the other side of the barrier."

"He's looking for this place."

"What made you think that?" James said sarcastically.

"We should really get back in now." I tugged on his arm but he wouldn't budge. "James, come on." I said desperately.

"I could take a few steps walk out of here and kill him." James breathed. "He wouldn't know what had hit him. It would be one less for someone else to worry about."

"James you can't go killing someone out of cold blood even though they're not necessarily on your side." I told him but my voice gave my fear away.

I saw James hesitate. I took a step closer to him and lowered his wand murmuring please as I did so. His gaze met my eyes and he sighed. My eyes had filled with tears; it wasn't the fact that killing him would be the problem it was just that I couldn't face watching my boyfriend become a murderer.

"You're right." He told me. "But sooner or later we're going to have to do it."

"I know, but if we can avoid it for as long as possible." I was breathing heavily.

"Not for much longer we can't." He was right and I knew it.

"James …" I began.

He cut me off by kissing me. My tears flowed as we did because somewhere deep down I knew this would be the last chance we would get to kiss each other like this for a while. My hands were caressing his neck as he raised me off the ground. He stopped kissing me and I felt a tear fall from his cheek. James rarely cried; I had only seen it a couple of times in all these years. The tears weren't just about what was to come but also about what had just happened. A little more than 24 hours ago he'd been kissing someone else. It still hurt me to think he would do something like that… even under those circumstances.

I didn't care about being caught right now, all I wanted to do was hold him for as long as possible, take in his scent, hear him whisper my name into my ear as his lips trailed my neck. I was pressing myself against in with my head in his shoulder silently letting the tears fall. He was cradling me in his arms as my legs wrapped around his waist. He just held me for a while, we didn't speak, we didn't move, we just cried into each other. I could feel his tears run down my neck. I opened my eyes and looked up at the Burrow, it looked peaceful but I knew the world around it wasn't. I saw Mrs Weasley watching James and I with a sad smile on her face. She was letting us have this moment, probably remembering what had happened during the last war.

This made me realise what I had to lose, it was weird how yesterday morning my life was as perfect as it ever could be and now it had totally fallen apart. Sure, I still had James, but for how long? My dad and my brothers were safe, but how could I be sure? I hadn't seen them since yesterday morning. What if someone had tracked them down by now before Ron had reached them? What if they were … no I wasn't going to think like that. I couldn't afford to. They were alive and well, everything was going to be alright like James had said. Then why were we here crying our hearts out in the freezing cold? Because we knew deep down that everything was not going to be alright, we knew that there would be casualties but we didn't want to admit it to ourselves. James brought me out of my thoughts as he gently put me down. He took a deep breath and broke the silence:

"This isn't the happiest moment in the world to choose to do this but it might be one of the last." He sniffed. "I was going to wait until Christmas but that is a week away and we don't know what is going to happen between there and then so now is the best opportunity I'm going to get." He fumbled for something in his pocket and I knew were this was leading. "I love you Casey and I want you to know that. We're only 18 but there is no harm in promising things are there?"

"No there isn't." I smiled.

"So until the day I'll propose for real, Casey Finnigan will you pledge yourself to me and no other for the rest of the time we have together?" He said while pulling the rings out of his jeans.

"I will." I swore. He slipped the ring on my finger and I smiled again before taking the other one that was there. "And will you James Potter, promise commitment to me alone?"

"My whole heart for my whole life, it will be forever yours." He vowed.

I slipped the ring onto his finger before leaning in and kissing him. It was funny how this morning I was furious with this boy and now here we were binding ourselves to each other. He had said he would propose to me one day, which meant marriage another. I knew deep down that that was what I wanted but how can you plan these things when you're only 18? We had only begun to experience life and yet we were already guaranteeing each other that this was for good. Forever. Always.

"We should get in before we freeze to death." James mumbled against my lips.

"We should." I said giving him one last peck on the cheek.

He took my hand as we headed back to the Burrow. When we walked in everyone was sitting in the kitchen sipping on some hot chocolate.

"I've saved two mugs for you dears." Mrs Weasley said as we both entered. "You look frozen stiff!"

She came over to us and brought us into a big hug.

"Congratulations." She mumbled to us.

Wait what? Did she just say? Oh God she did! She had watched our whole exchange? I felt my cheeks burn and I was feeling warmer there that's for sure. I sat down at the crowded table, no one else had arrived since James and I had disappeared. James took the vacant seat beside me and handed me the hot chocolate drink his gran had prepared. I sipped it and instantly felt my body warm up. Roxy was looking at me as if I was a monkey in a zoo.

"What?" I asked.

"What have you got on your finger?" She questioned. "Is that an engagement ring?"

I went red, why was I turning red? It wasn't an engagement ring, it was a promise ring! Alright, I'll admit that there isn't much of a difference but still!

"You two are engaged?" Harry choked.

"Dad, we're not." James told him. "They're promise rings."

"Same difference." Fred muttered.

"Trust me there is." I shot him a look that clearly meant: _Shut up!_

"You've gotten scarier as you've gotten older!" Fred joked and my eyes narrowed.

"James, can I have a word?" Harry asked his son.

"Sure Dad." James got up and followed his dad out of the kitchen.

"I think it's sweet." Sydney smiled at me. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." I muttered as I sipped my hot chocolate.

For some reason I knew that Harry wasn't just going to be having a casual conversation with James. Being part werewolf, I could hear some of the conversation but something was blocking the rest of it. _Muffliato,_ Harry had put that spell up so I wouldn't hear what he was saying. Thanks Harry!

"I need you to go and make beds up, dears." Mrs Weasley instructed.

"Which ones?" Roxy asked.

"All of them." She replied. "I don't know who will be staying the night but I'm guessing quite a few. You'll need to put up a couple of spare bed as well. We have a couple of camp beds. Put one in Ron's old room, Percy's old room and Bill's. We'll see about the sleeping arrangements later."

"Right Roxy and Fred get moving!" Mrs Weasley pressed.

"Why us?" Fred moaned.

"Just a get a move on Fred Weasley!" She ordered and he obeyed.

He was out of the kitchen in a second leaving Louis, Sydney, Lucy, Josh and I laughing.

"Don't think I'm not getting you to do anything!" Mrs Weasley said.

"Damn it." Louis muttered and she slapped the back of his head.

"Language Louis!" She reminded him. "Now I want you and Josh to go and tidy up the living room it's a mess! Go!"

They got up and left.

"Lucy dear, can you have a look around and make sure all of the _experiments_ are really gone?" Mrs Weasley said in a softer voice. Why was Lucy always the one that got treated differently than the rest? "I don't want any accidents to happen during the meeting."

"Normally there shouldn't be anything lying around or still in function." I piped up. "We either used them or removed them."

"I'd rather Lucy checked, you might have forgotten one … it wouldn't be the first time."

Lucy shot me an arrogant and smug look before leaving the kitchen. If I was allowed to I would have hexed her into oblivion …

"Casey, I would like you to show Sydney the place. Make her feel more at home, answer the questions she needs to know. Explain what's going on here and everything."

"It will be my pleasure to do so." I smiled.

This was great, ha! No chores for me, I just needed to show Louis' girlfriend around! The others are going to envy me, ha!


	10. Chapter 10: Beginnings and Endings

Chapter 10:

"So now you've seen the place, any questions?" I smiled to the astonished brunette.

"I have a lot of questions." She grinned.

"Go ahead!"

"This is amazing, how does magic work?"

"To be honest, we don't know where the gene comes from you either have it or you don't. It's hereditary but some wizards kids can be born without magical powers, they're called squibs. And then you have muggle-borns, kids whose parents are muggles, like yourself, and end up getting the magic gene."

"What are you?"

"My mum was a pureblood, both parents are wizards. My dad on the other hand is a half-blood, his dad is a muggle and it was only on their wedding night that my gran told him she was a witch."

"That must have been a shock." noted Sydney.

"I can imagine it was." I agreed.

"There you two are!" Louis came up to us in a hurry.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Your dad is here and well James is here too." He explained.

"Damn it." I swore as I ran for the living room at top speed.

That's when I saw something I wished I never would. Dad was holding James up against the wall by the collar of his shirt looking angrier than I have ever seen him.

"DAD!" I yelled as I ran down to meet him.

He stopped saying whatever he was saying to James and turned to me.

"Casey!" Dad greeted. "I was just having a talk with James."

"I looked more like you were trying to kill him!" I snapped.

"I was going to but then I was told that you had made up, that's when I slammed him to the wall." My Dad's Irish accent was stronger than usual.

"Dad I can explain." I pleaded.

"There is nothing to explain, except that in my opinion you're extremely dumb to give him a second chance." He was being honest; I could see it in his eyes.

For the first time in my life I was lost for words. Dad had always backed me up no matter what and to hear this coming from him was the worst thing that could ever happen. I took a deep breath and looked down, something I never do because it means you're showing defeat. There was silence in the room after my Dad's bitter words. It was Harry who decided to break it.

"Seamus, why don't we have a chat?" He suggested.

My dad looked at me then shot a disgusted look at James before following Harry out of the living room.

Everyone looked at me like they expected me to start ranting. In normal circumstances I would but I knew that it wouldn't change what my father thought. I looked to James:

"I want to make it clear that I don't give a damn what my dad thinks." I stated before turning and leaving the room.

As I walked out the room the front door opened and in walked a group of people. I recognised some of them and others … not so much. I smiled as I saw George and Angelina walk in.

"Hey there!" George smiled.

"Hi!" I smiled back.

"I wasn't expecting to see you at the Burrow." Angelina added.

"James and I have sorted things out."

"That's good but I hope you know what you're doing." George advised.

"Don't worry, I do."

We all headed into the living room and waited for the others to arrive. McGonagall had come, so had Neville and even Lily was present. I only half-listened to what Harry was going on about as he was saying what I knew already. I only tuned in when he started giving people jobs to do.

"I want the next generation at Hogwarts." He said. "That means the castle had extra-protection and we can keep them out of harm's way."

Most of us began to protest. We didn't want to be brushed aside that easily.

"My word is final." Harry said. "Professor McGonagall I hope you don't mind having them back for a while?"

"I certainly don't Mr Potter." She smiled. "Now come on, we should get back before the students that have stayed over the Christmas holidays realise that so many teachers are gone."

She headed for the door and gestured us to follow. I sighed and found my dad and went up to give him a hug. He didn't say anything just hugged back. I pulled away and nodded to Harry and Ginny before walking out the room. I was going back to Hogwarts, with James, Fred, Roxy, Louis, Josh and Lucy. Lily, Albus, Jake and Rose were heading back as well. Louis had given Sydney a long kiss goodbye as she would be accompanied back home.

"We apparate to Hogsmeade." McGonagall told us.

I took my brother and James hands and turned on the spot. We walked in silence up to the castle behind McGonagall and Neville and a couple of other teachers.

"We will have you patrol the corridors in pairs." McGonagall instructed once we had reached the castle. "We have some prefects and the Head Boy and Girl watching the area as well. We need four to cover the grounds."

"We'll do it." James and I volunteered.

"We'll be the other two." Fred and Roxy offered.

"Excellent. Now James and Casey, you do the Greenhouses to the Quidditch pitch. And I don't want you getting distracted are we clear?"

"We know what's at stake professor; we're not going to prance off like we usually do." I promised.

"I hope you don't." McGonagall said. "And I would like to inform you that I had no idea you and Mr Potter like to sneak off into the grounds at night."

"Can we avoid putting that in our records?" James asked.

"I'll let it slip." McGonagall said. "Now hurry up the grounds won't patrol themselves."

We didn't need to be told again we walked out of the entry hall and into the night.

"Lumos." James muttered and his wand ignited immediately. I did the same with mine.

"Where do you think Fred and Roxy will get posted?" I asked.

"I don't know probably Hagrid's hut and the outskirts of the forest."

"They get the riskier terrain." I joked.

"Casey, can I ask something of you?" James turned to face me.

"Yeah, of course you can."

"And you promise to do it?"

"James what's wrong?" I put my hand on his arm.

"If anything happens I want you to run and get out of here." James looked right into my eyes. "Get Lily and get out of here. Albus can find his way out on his own but Lily won't."

"James if you think I'll leave you, you're wrong."

"I need you to promise me this. I can't stand the thought of you not making it out of here alive."

"James, we're going to make it." I said unconvincingly. "There is no way I'm leaving you. I promised." I showed him the ring.

"Are you ever going to let me win an argument?" My boyfriend joked.

"I don't think so." I shook my head in amusement.

"I love you." James whispered as he took my hand in his.

"I love you too."

XxxxxX

It had been a couple of weeks now since we had been posted at Hogwarts. I was on guard from 8:00 pm to 8:00 AM with James. The school term had begun again and the castle was now full. Not just with the students but other people. A couple of Aurors were constantly on duty and the patrolling teams were repeatedly wandering the castle and its grounds. We had spent Christmas and New Year at Hogwarts. There had been nothing festive, it was mostly gloomy. Many people had disappeared or gone into hiding. I hadn't heard from Aidan in a week and I was starting to get worried. Dad would drop by occasionally as he dropped a message in for Neville or another teacher. I had an hour before my shift began and decided to have a look at the names of the missing in the Daily Prophet.

_As of today these people have been reported missing by their families and friends._

_If you have any ideas of their whereabouts please contact the families._

_Horace Slughorn_

_Blaise Zabini_

_Jodyne Davies_

_Laura Corner_

_Penny Jones_

_Michael Smith_

_Terry and Tony Boot_

_Harriet and Francis Hope_

_Aidan Finnigan_

I stopped reading as I began to stare blankly at my brother's name. I felt tears on my cheeks. So he was missing. There must be a good reason right? He must be off doing something for the Order? He can't be gone. He just can't.

"Casey?" I heard someone ask.

"Yes?"

"Are you all right?" It was Lucy.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied.

"I know you're not. I saw your brother's name on the list earlier."

I had nothing to say. There was a short silence.

"For what it's worth, I don't think he's missing." She told me. "Molly is on a mission for the Order and Aidan was supposed to go with her. I believe it's just a ruse. If you look further down Molly's name is on there as well."

I looked down and there it was: _Molly Weasley_

"You really think so?" I asked her as she sat down just across from me.

"I hope so." She smiled weakly.

"I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"For everything I've ever done to you." I apologised.

"Don't threat. I deserved it, I was just jealous."

"Jealous?" I repeated.

"Yeah, you were the instant hit in school. All the boys loved you and you were one of the popular crowd. I was just little Lucy Weasley, the Ravenclaw grade rubber. "

"I'm not sure about the whole the boys loved me kinda thing. I never dated anyone before James."

"But that doesn't mean you didn't share a few kisses here and there. And anyway, no boy was brave enough to ask you out. They knew they would have to go through James, Fred, Louis and Aidan."

"I never really noticed." I grinned.

"Maybe we can start again, clean slate?" Lucy held her hand out to me.

"We sure can." I shook on it.

Suddenly there was a loud explosion that made both of us jump out of our skin.

"What the hell is that?" I yelled.

"Someone is in the castle." Lucy answered.

We both looked at each other and smiled weakly as we got up and ran towards the noise wands drawn.

`When I got there I saw a hole in the wall. McGonagall, James and Fred were already there. A couple of younger students had come to see as well.

"We need to evacuate like right now." I advised.

"Potter, Weasley's and Finnigan I want you to each round up a house and get them to the Great Hall now. Warn the teachers and get all the others there as well."

"Are we allowed to send a patronus message Professor?" I asked.

"If you can do one of course you can!" She said. "I'll meet you in the Great Hall I'm contacting the Order. Now go!"

She ran off as fast as she could. Faster than I thought would be possible for her.

"Lucy you get the Ravenclaws." I instructed. "James, get to Gryffindor Tower, Fred that leaves you with Hufflepuff."

"What about the Slytherins?" James asked.

"I'll get them, they hate me but less than the two of you and Lucy no offense but they won't listen to you and frankly none of us can be bothered trying to figure out a riddle right now!"

"Good luck." James wished me as he ran off in the other direction.

I took a deep breath and conjured my patronus.

"Roxy get your ass down to the Great Hall right now. Get Louis and everyone else you find on the way. It's urgent." I told it and my vixen ran off in search of my best friend.

I felt … I don't how I felt … so many emotions were there in that moment … fear, anger and excitement.

I exhaled and ran off in the direction of the dungeons. I had never wanted to get there quicker in my life.

XxxxxX

I couldn't remember much. One minute I was running to the dungeons then it all went black. I slowly started to open my eyes. My head was aching and so was my arm. Once I regained my sight I gasped. The hallway had been blasted. There was debris everywhere. I looked down at my arm and winced. Blood had never been my strong point. Well, my own blood anyway. I took my wand out my pocket and with a quick silent spell cleaned the wound. It didn't look too deep.

"Ferula." I muttered to myself. A bandage appeared on my arm.

Now I still had one problem: my head. I couldn't do anything about it now so I would have to leave it and find someone else. I got up slowly fighting the urge the throw up. The corridor was silent. My best bet was to head for the Great Hall. I started heading down the hall at a slow place, I was now desperately fighting the need to vomit. My head was spinning as I came out into the open. That's when I started to hear some noise in the distance. I was holding my wand as if it was the only thing keeping me alive. It probably was. As I reached the Entrance Hall, I saw people running about. People were being dragged in to the Great Hall by others. The door was locked and bolted. Everyone looked exhausted and bruised in countless places. I walked down the stairs and heard someone call my name. The person ran up and brought me into a great hug. And that was the moment everything went black … again.

XxxxxX

"Casey." Someone whispered as my eyes started to flutter.

I opened my eyes and it took a moment for me see my surroundings clearly. I slowly sat up and as I did so someone helped me by putting their hand on the small of my back. I blinked a couple of times as the light was blinding.

"What's happened?" My voice was very husky and uneven.

"You've taken a blow to your head." James told me.

"Thank you Captain Obvious." I said sarcastically.

"Sorry." He mumbled.

"What I meant was … what is going on here?"

"You've been unconscious for an hour. We're at war and well that's been it really." James summed up.

I could see tear stains down his face.

"Who's …" I couldn't come to say the words.

"None of our family members are." He swallowed hard.

"James, tell me." I pleaded.

"Josh." He said as tears began to fall on his already tear stained face.

My breath caught and I felt a lump in my throat as tried to process the news. I just wrapped my arms around James's neck and buried my neck in his shoulder. He pulled me closer by my waist and I could hear him start to cry freely. I started to sob soon after. Josh and I hadn't been as close over the past years as we had been but we had still grown up together. He was still one of my closest friends; he was my godfather's son. I can't imagine what Dean must be going through right now. I pulled away from James and he did to. I rested my forehead on his. We remained silent as we recomposed ourselves.

"He took a curse to the chest." James began. "I saw it and I could have stopped it. But instead I watched in horror as he was struck. I got the man in the end for what he did. But if I had acted sooner Josh would still be alive. It's my fault he's gone."

"Don't you dare say that, James? You couldn't have changed the course of the curse. This isn't your fault." I said as I took his head between my hands. "If you had taken the curse for him, Josh would beat himself up for the rest of his life. You couldn't have done anything."

We remained silent. None of us knew what to say. Stray tears were falling again. It was my name that broke our silence.

"Casey!" My dad yelled.

"Dad!" I got up and as he brought me into a hug.

"You nearly scared me to death." He whispered to me. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm still a little dizzy but all in all I'm fine." I told him as I pulled away.

"I'm sorry I wasn't beside you but Dean needed me." He said.

I understood completely. "I know Dad."

"I thought I had lost you." My dad looked so relieved but I could see worry etched on his face.

"You'll never loose me, Dad. I'm a fighter."

"That's my girl." He said as he gave me another hug.

"What's happening out there?" I asked.

"They've retreated but it's not over yet. They haven't pulled back permanently. The night is cold and wet. We have the advantage because of the castle so they'll be trying another plan for a direct attack."

"How long do you think we have?" I asked.

"I couldn't tell you." Dad sighed. "They could attack any time they want."

"Where's Jake?"

"Over there with Rose and Scorpius." He gestured to a bench not too far away.

They looked a bit bruised but they seemed alright. They were currently sipping on something hot.

"Listen, Casey. I need to go." Dad told me. "I want you to stay safe and don't go wandering alone."

"Where are you going?"

"I need to check a few things and things need tending to. We still have a lot of under-age kids here. We're thinking about using this break to get the younger ones out." Dad explained.

"Okay." I nodded. "Take care of yourself."

"Don't worry I will." He kissed the top of my head, nodded to James before walking off into the crowd of people.

"Come on." James said as he took my hand. "Let's find the others. They'll be relieved to know you've woken up."

"Where are they?" I asked him as he started to guide me through the Hall.

"If they haven't moved, they'll be next to the House Points glasses." He said.

I followed him as we made way through people. Saying quick hellos to those we knew. I caught a glimpse of Dean in the distance. He looked half dead and who could blame him? I kept hold of James's hand. Once we reached the back of the Hall, I finally saw who we were looking for. Roxy, Louis and Fred were standing there looking like hell. Emily was sitting on a bench with her head in her hands and to my surprise Maisy was there with her arm around her.

"Casey!" Roxanne yelled when she saw me.

I nearly jumped into her arms that she had opened when she saw me. I was so glad to see her. She was my best friend, I don't know what I would do if I lost her. Once we let go of each other Louis was quick to follow. When it comes down to friends of the opposite sex, Louis is definitely the best I have. Of course James is my boyfriend but I need that boy best friend to fall back on and Louis was definitely it. I don't even want to imagine how screwed up I would be without this boy. Finally Fred pulled me in to a quick embrace. James's right hand man, we liked to call him. Fred had always been there for him whether he was right or wrong. But he wasn't afraid to tell him when he was wrong. I don't think I've ever seen a bond between cousins as strong as the friendship James and Fred have.

We didn't know what to say to each other. We just stood there in silence. It wasn't uncomfortable or awkward but I wouldn't class it as comfortable either. We were somewhere in the middle. Emily didn't look up. She must be crying her heart out. Josh and Emily had started going out in September. I didn't try to communicate with her; she'll come round when she's ready. Maisy gave me a teary smile and a small nod. There was a bitter sweet feeling in the air.

It had been about ten minutes since we had joined them when we heard a loud bang. The whole Hall started up again, people were running out of the Hall quickly to find the source of the noise, leaving the healers, the injured and the dead behind. It was all a blur to me, I found myself heading out of the Hall with the others hunting for the source. Then I saw it. Hooded figures were coming straight at us. I had my wand out a quickly as I could and started sending countless jinxes and curses at the oncoming enemy. Adrenaline started pumping and I felt like I was on a roll. I didn't go unscratched but I didn't have much problem defeating my opponents. Another loud bang was heard and with it the castle shook. I looked out the castle window and saw flashes in the distance.

Another thing caught my eye: the full moon. That explains my hyperactive state. How long we had been fighting for I couldn't tell, all I knew is that we had to hold them off. Stop them from getting deeper into the castle. The flashes in the distance were getting nearer. I didn't know if that was a good or a bad sign.


	11. Chapter 11: Fresh Start and First Time

Chapter 11:

**(I'm back and I apolgise for this long long absence... But this time I'm back and I've got stuff plvnned and I'm going to commit because I hate unfinished stories. So I hope you enjoy and thanks for supporting me and for all your lovely reviews. Lots of love to you all :) )**

I fell against the wall trying to get my breath back. The noise was louder than before and because of my sensitive hearing it must have made it a lot worse than reality. My hand was bleeding and my head had begun to give me hell again. Something was coming our way, the attackers looked bewildered. I got back up and aimed my wand at the closest hooded figure that had its back to me. I stunned him and as he fell.

I could finally get a better look at what was coming this way. My mouth dropped as I saw it. The enemy was surrounded. The force that everyone believed to be back up for them wasn't. A pack of wizards stood there looking fresh and ready to take down whatever stood in their way. One by one our opponents dropped their wands as our allies came and bound their hands leading them away. I caught a glimpse of someone I was dying to see and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest, my breath definitely hitched.

"AIDAN!" I screamed over the mass of people as I began to run towards him.

He must have heard me because as soon as the words left my mouth he turned round and sprinted my way. We pushed by people until we were finally in hugging distance. I threw myself at him wrapping my arms around his neck tightly. Just being able to have him hold me reminded me of how much I missed my big brother. Tears of relief easily came to my eyes.

"Don't you, ever, do that to me again, are we clear?" I told him.

"I won't." He assured me.

I know you're not supposed to have a favourite brother but Aidan was mine. He always looked out for me as we grew up and we had shared so many good times together. Our relationship was special and I knew that whatever happened he would always have my back. No matter what.

"CASEY! AIDAN!" I heard someone yell to out left.

We instantly broke apart as we saw Jake running towards us. His eyes were glazed and his cheek cut. He jumped on Aidan who easily caught him. Jake wasn't that tall for his age so it didn't look too weird. Aidan put him down and brought me into the hug.

For the first time in months, the Finnegan trio were back together. And to be honest I didn't want to let go. We felt another pair of arms join the hug. Dad. He had found us and joined us. The family reunited … if only Mum was here to see it.

It was in that moment that I could honestly say I was bloody thankful for my family. No matter what happens to me, they will always be my past, my present and my future.

After being released from our hug I went in search of that other person who has the other half of my heart. I found him with Albus. The moment James saw me, his eyes filled with relief as he made his way steadily over to me engulfing me in a hug. I hugged him back just as tightly. As we stood there, I noticed that this hug didn't feel so different. I felt safe in his arms, comforted and loved.

I think it was in that moment I realised I really wanted to spend the rest of my life with James Sirius Potter.

XxxxxX

The aftermath of the war hadn't been too bad. Well, not as bad as the last one. Azkaban would have its work cut out for a while but it could have been worse. Most of those who had gone missing turned up saying that they had gone into hiding. Others never turned up and the well the rest were found … dead. Funerals had taken a toll on all of us. Not too many but enough for an entire family to be torn apart. I could call myself lucky, apart from Josh; I had had no casualties to my entourage.

I had hardly seen Dad recently. He had been working a lot more, helping some things get back on track. The days he did have off I was mostly training or had games. Quidditch was the one thing that helped me cope with all this. I just focused on that and nothing else. It had paid off as we were first in the tables. Rumours had been going round that I might be offered to play on the National Irish team. I'd honestly love to play for them.

I got home and dumped my bag of Quidditch stuff on the floor. Too tired to take it upstairs right now. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed myself a drink and a couple of biscuits before falling onto the couch. I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up it was dark outside. Dad must be getting in late then tonight. Jake was at Hogwarts and Aidan in Ireland. I went up to the window and had a look out. A brown owl was sitting on our window ledge. I wonder how long it had been there for. It flew in as I opened the window. A letter was tied to its leg. I removed it and gave it a treat before it flew off. The letter was addressed to me and I recognised Victoire's handwriting.

_Casey, _

_I'm writing you this to tell you that Teddy proposed to me earlier today! I've never screamed an answer as loud before! Obviously I said yes. I wanted you to be one of the first to know and hear it from one of us instead of a gossip magazine over the next few days. I know you haven't got much time on your hands right now but I would really like to meet up. I saw Roxy the other day and she totally agreed. Maybe even Dom will tag along … we haven't seen her in months … Mum and Dad are beginning to get worried about her. She'll answer our letters very vaguely and ignores all family invitations. _

_Anyway, it'll be good to have a nice girl's night in the near future. Are you coming to the next dinner at the Burrow this weekend or do you have a game? Hope you don't the whole family has missed your presence at the last few! But Louis had brought Sydney as much as possible so we did have a cousin's girlfriend to pick on! I'm just joking! _

_Answer soon and love to the rest of your family! _

_Love Victoire. _

_P.S: My mum is reminding me that she says hello! And Louis wants you to drop by soon he says it's been too long without his best girlfriend! I swear the friendship you two have is so adorable! _

I smiled and put the letter down. Just getting a letter from her made me feel a lot happier. But the fact that Ted had finally proposed! I mean seriously this is _AMAZING_! There is going to be a flipping wedding soon! I quickly wrote a response to Victoire.

Victoire,

I just got your letter! I am so so happy for you! This is amazing news! It was about time he popped the question. I can't wait to see the ring! Eeeek! And don't you worry I'm planning on being there this weekend; my match is Saturday and not Sunday this time round. Looking forward to seeing all you Weasley's again! And I would love to go out with you soon and just talk and have girl day. It's been so long since I've had a night out.

And about Dominique, have you tried just turning up at her doorstep? Sometimes actions are a lot better than letters with meaningless words. Hopefully she's okay.

Please tell your little brother that I'll try and pop over at some point but I'll see him Sunday for sure.

Congrats to you and Ted again. You're just perfect for each other!

Love you all to bits and see you soon,

Casey.

Once I was done, I tied it to my owl's leg and she was off. After making a quick dinner I headed upstairs and had a nice bath before going to bed. Thankfully I had a nice lie in to look forward too.

XxxxxX

The Burrow was crowded as usual. At the minute we were all crowded round Victoire trying to get a good look at the rock Teddy had put on her finger. It was just breath-taking. A massive diamond with rubies incrusted into the band as well. She was a very lucky girl.

"So when's the big day?" I asked.

"We're going to hold it when the weather gets better." Victoire answered. "The beginning of April seems to be the best bet."

"That's a couple of months away." Teddy continued. "So it gives us a while to get it sorted and get the time off work for a honeymoon as well."

"You are going to make a beautiful bride! I can't wait to see you in a beautiful dress!" Roxy gushed.

"About that, I'm looking for three bridesmaids." Vic smiled. "I was thinking of asking you, Molly and Dom."

"YES! YES! YES!" Roxanne jumped on her cousin bringing in her into a tight embrace.

"I knew that she would react like this." Ted joked.

"Roxanne tries her best to hide that girly side to no avail." I grinned.

"Maybe you should show us yours from time to time." James smirked as his arms slipped round my waist from behind.

"You mean prove she actually has one." Fred laughed.

"I have one … just when you're a Quidditch player you can't really show it off." I stuck my tongue out at them.

We fell into random conversation before we heard someone shout on us.

"Come on you lot, dinner!" Harry called from the kitchen.

Dinner went great as always. I was just now that I realised how much I missed their company. I enlaced my fingers with James's under the table, relishing the moment. He squeezed my hand back and shot me a loving smile.

After dinner, everyone started to get ready to go. Mrs Weasley pulled me into a big hug.

"It was great to see you again Casey." She smiled.

"It was great to be back here." I genuinely meant it.

"Let's hope in a not so distant future we'll see you in Victoire's place."

I blushed like a tomato. I heard James chuckle from behind me.

"Thanks." I said as I turned and walked out the door.

"You're cute when you blush." James teased.

"Oh shut up." I playfully shoved him.

"So, I was wondering, instead of you going back home tonight, why not come back to mine. We haven't had time to ourselves in a while."

"You're right it's been ages." I nodded. "And you know what? Let's do it. I'm not in training tomorrow."

"Great. I get lonely there on my own."

"Well not tonight." I chirped.

He leaned in and gently put his lips to mine.

"I love you." He whispered.

Once we got to his place, the first thing I did once we got in was to drop myself on his couch making myself quite at home. James chuckled as he came over moving my feet so he could sit down.

"Comfy?" He asked with a mischievous grin.

"What are you going to do?" I knew he was up to something.

"You know me too well." He said before he started poking my sides making me go into hysterics.

I tried getting out from under him but it was no use. He finally stopped tickling me as we were both out of breath. He had my arm pinned above me. There was a silence as we both just looked at each other with small smiles before I leaned up and kissed him gently.

"What was that for?" He asked.

"I felt like it." I shrugged.

He smiled before bringing his lips down to mine. Slowly releasing my arms and trailing his down to my sides. My hands went to where they wanted to be most … his jaw lines. He slowly brought me back up not breaking the kiss. It was slow and passionate. It had been a long time since we had been able to just have some time to ourselves. As my hands went to the buckle of his jeans, he pulled away.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Positive." I nodded.

I had put this moment back too long. After we'd left Hogwarts things had been hectic that sex had not been on the top of my list. James had made a couple of moves but I'd never been comfortable with the setting and would just not be in the mood.

This just felt like the right time unlike the others, and I knew this was something I wanted to make special. Today had been great and ending it on this could only make it perfect.

James smiled and brought his lips back to mine as he gently picked me and carried me upstairs.


End file.
